The SEC baseball tournament 2024 field will be trimmed from six teams to four on Friday.
Only two elimination games will be played inside Hoover Metropolitan Stadium to set up Saturday’s semifinals.
The Kentucky Wildcats and South Carolina Gamecocks face off in Friday’s Inaugural game. A rematch for either team against the LSU Tigers is waiting the winner of that contest.
The top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers square off with the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the 2nd contest. The winner of that contest gets another shot at the Vanderbilt Commodore.
SEC Baseball Tournament 2024 Schedule Friday
No. 10 South Carolina vs. No. 3 Kentucky (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network)
No. 5 Mississippi State vs. No. 1 Tennessee (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network)
SEC Baseball Tournament 2024 preview
Kentucky and Tennessee bring distinct advantages to Friday’s pitching matchup.
The pair of top-four seeds have played just two games in Hoover and have more available weapons to choose from.
South Carolina and Mississippi State in their fourth game in four days. They could both use patchwork pitching plans to get through Friday.
South Carolina used five pitchers in Thursday night’s 11-10 loss to LSU and faced a quick turnaround at 4 p.m. ET for its matchup with Kentucky.
The Gamecocks won the regular-season series with the Wildcats, but it was a typically structured weekend.
A reliever has thrown three or more innings in a single appearance at Kentucky Hoover. That will help set up its pitching structure for an elimination game battle with South Carolina.
Although Kentucky lost the season series to South Carolina, it scored 15 runs in the April 27 game. A similar performance at the plate is possible if Gamecocks pulls out some tired arms.
South Carolina has scored 10 runs in two of its three SEC Baseball Tournament 2024 games, so Hoover’s opener could be ready for offensive fireworks.
The same can’t be said about the second game as Mississippi State has held Hoover to eight or fewer runs in three games.
The Bulldogs will likely go with an all-hands-on-deck pitching approach after they get at least five innings out of their three starters in the first three games.
Playing four games in four days is never an ideal situation, but Mississippi State at least mixed and matched its arms in a better place than South Carolina because of how well the starters pitched.
The Bulldogs will need some standout performances on the mound to slow down Tennessee’s offense.
The Volunteers have scored 11 runs in two games at Hoover and have scored at least seven runs in four of their last six contests.
Tennessee’s talent at the plate could shine and take advantage of a Mississippi State team without its top starting arms.
Friday’s two winners advance to the semifinal round, where the SEC Baseball Tournament 2024 reverts to single elimination. The winners of the two semifinals will meet in Sunday’s championship game.
SEC Baseball Tournament 2024 Prophecy
Kentucky over South Carolina
Tennessee over Mississippi State