Opening weekend was full of drama — walkoffs, almost hitting for the cycle and scoring outbursts — and this was just in the Southeastern Conference. There are eight SEC teams in the top 25 and four within the top 10 — LSU, Vanderbilt, Florida, and Ole Miss. Each team came into the season expecting to win, but LSU?
Omaha or bust.
Here is how each SEC team opened up the season and stacked up compared to top-ranked LSU.
No. 1 LSU
LSU (4-0) leads the charge with the No. 1 ranking. The team opened the season with two of the three wins driven by walkoffs and scoring outbursts. The weekend-slate for LSU wasn’t the most difficult, but it proved to be a test for the young team. The first two games against ULM and Army were not as expected from the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
The Tigers faced pitching struggles from ace pitcher, junior right-hander Zack Hess in the opener. The bats came alive to help him out with senior outfielder Antoine Duplantis and sophomore outfielder Daniel Cabrera leading the charge. The Tigers pulled out a 12-7 come from behind victory. The defense for LSU put them in a difficult position as there were multiple routine plays that were mishandled.
Pitching became important in the final two games of the weekend for the Tigers. LSU took the early lead behind freshman right-hander Landon Marceaux on Saturday. The bullpen couldn’t hold as Army came back to take the lead late, 5-3. The game came down to the bottom of the ninth where freshman infielder Cade Beloso drove a three-run walkoff-homerun to right field.
The bats came alive on Sunday though displaying why the Tigers were ranked No. 1 preseason. They drove in 17 runs on their way to a blowout victory. Freshman right-hander Jaden Hill started his first game for LSU and followed up Marceaux’s performance with a masterpiece of his own to cap the weekend series.
The freshmen for this team will be key players in the success going throughout the grind of the season.
No. 2 Vanderbilt
Perennial powerhouse No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt (2-1) competed in the MLB4 Tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Commodores opened their season against the University of Virginia (1-3) in a rematch of the 2015 College World Series. Vanderbilt is typically known for the strong pitching prospects they have produced — David Price, Walker Buehler and Sonny Gray — but it was the offense that propelled them to two commanding wins.
Two players — Ethan Paul and Austin Martin — were one hit shy of the cycle. The Commodores also batted around the order in the fifth inning. The pitching was shotty as starting pitcher junior right-hander Drake Fellows allowed four runs in the first two innings and five all together during his four innings. The pitching struggled throughout allowing nine runs, but Vanderbilt pulled out a victory behind its offense.
Cal State Fullerton (2-1) offered a new set of challenges for Vanderbilt with their small-ball approach. The pitching held up enough for the offense to power its way to another high scoring game, 14-9. The revelation for the Commodores throughout the weekend was the offense, but that came to an end against TCU (3-1).
TCU stifled Vanderbilt with strong pitching and a gritty offensive performance. The Commodores couldn’t find a way to channel the offense from the previous two days only scoring two runs. The struggling pitching staff continued that by allowing 10 runs on Sunday.
Something to take away from Vanderbilt’s weekend: their starting rotation might not be as typically advertised as it gave up a combined 10 runs in 11 innings.
No. 3 Florida
Another SEC juggernaut within the last decade, No. 3 Florida (3-2) swept its opening weekend against Long Beach State (0-4). Florida is typically a pitching-driven team, like the 2017 team that beat LSU in the College World Series.
The Gator rotation had its own struggles, as they walked nine batters in the first game alone. The walks didn’t hurt Florida horribly. They only gave up two runs in the first game of the series behind an early lead. Florida put up four runs in the first and four runs in the seventh inning to keep a commanding lead.
The second and third games of the series were more of the same from Florida — enough offense to win and good enough pitching to stay competitive. Hitting with runners on was important for the Gators as most of their runs came from just a few innings. The pitchers figured some things out from the first game as they only allowed three walks and a total of three runs in the final two games of the series.
Offensively, one thing to keep note of for Florida is the big innings. Of the 16 runs the Gators scored on the weekend, 14 of those runs came in only four innings.
No. 10 Ole Miss
With former LSU Tiger Mike Bianco at the helm, the No. 10 Ole Miss Rebels played had an inconsistent opening weekend against Wright State (1-1). The Rebels used just two pitchers in their opening game they won 10-1. The offense began in the first inning and continued throughout the game. Junior catcher Cooper Johnson was a triple away from the cycle in his first game of the season.
Both the offense and defense were different for the Rebels in the second game of the series. The pitching that only allowed one run, allowed nine on Saturday. Wright State jumped out early in the first to take the lead and never looked back leading all nine innings. The Ole Miss bats couldn’t produce enough to overcome the five run lead in the third.
The final game of the series was cancelled as the teams split the series 1-1. Ole Miss was able to produce runs in each of its game, but veteran pitching was as struggled in the loss as two juniors allowed eight runs.
Overall
The weekend wasn’t full of stiff for the SEC — excluding Vanderbilt — and most of the top-10 teams played well. It was still opening weekend and teams have a long way to go before reaching mid season form.
LSU looked to be the most promising with its combined youth and experience guiding the way against three decent teams. Also, the Tigers ability to fight all nine innings will help them later in the year whenever they do face tough SEC competition. They’ll know that they can struggle early and still have a chance to win.
The other three teams in the top 10 all displayed positive aspects from their weekends, but time will determine if those characteristics will hold up throughout the season.