Sunday, May 17, 2009

TIDE TANGLES WITH GAMECOCKS TO OPEN SEC TOURNEY ON WEDNESDAY

BY NICK TAYLOR

REGIONS PARK- HOST OF THE 2009 SEC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

College baseball postseason play officially heats up as many conference tournaments begin this week. The results of these tournaments may have more impact on the NCAA tourney bracket than ever before as there seems to be more parity and a higher level of intense competition, nowhere is this more evident than in the SEC where as many as 5 teams have a great chance to be regional hosts and as many as 3 of those 5 teams have a great chance to claim top 8 seeds in the NCAA tourney field.

Most college baseball experts\websites agree that SEC regular season co-champs Ole Miss and LSU; as well as Eastern division champion Florida have all locked up regional host sites and all 3 have a chance to obtain top 8 seeds if they progress deep into or win the SEC tournament. Alabama and South Carolina are both in contension to host regionals if they advance to Sunday's championship game. Since Bama didn't play South Carolina in the regular season the outcome of the game on Wednesday between the gamecocks and the tide could be pivotal in determing the fate of both schools regional host hopes as well as have a huge impact on shaping the NCAA TOURNEY BRACKET.


here's the tournament bracket and predictions
NOTE* the run-rule for SEC tourney games is 10 run lead after 7 innings...


Wednesday, May 20

Game 1 10:00 a.m. #7 Arkansas vs. #2 Florida [CSS HD] (XM 199) ARK
reason- DALLAS KIEKEL SHUTDOWN GATOR LINEUP.

Game 2 1:30 p.m. #6 Georgia vs. #3 Ole Miss [CSS HD] (XM 199) OLE MISS
reason- complete mismatch due to drew pomeranz and good hitting Rebs may runrule dogs

Game 3 5:00 p.m. #8 Vandy vs. #1 LSU [CSS HD] (XM 199) VANDY
reason- VANDY has the edge on the mound with Mike Minor & vandy is better defensively

Game 4 8:30 p.m. #5 S. Carolina vs. #4 Alabama [CSS HD] (XM 199) BAMA
reason- bama is a great fastball hitting team which is what SC ace Zam Dyson throws


Thursday, May 21

FLORIDA VS GEORGIA
Game 5 10:00 a.m. Loser G1 vs. Loser G2 [CSS HD] (XM 199) FLORIDA

reason- Floria's lineup full of gap and pull hitters will runrule and blowout Georgia

LSU VS S. CAR
Game 6 1:30 p.m. Loser G3 vs. Loser G4 [CSS HD] (XM 199) LSU
reason- LSU is saving their ace for day 2

ARK VS OLE MISS
Game 7 5:00 p.m. Winner G1 vs. Winner G2 [CSS HD] (XM 199) OLE MISS
reason- ARK has a lack of pitching depth after Dallas Kiekel

VANDY VS BAMA
Game 8 8:30 p.m. Winner G3 vs. Winner G4 [CSS HD] (XM 199) BAMA
reason bama's ace pitcher Austin Hyatt will dominate vandy as tide runrule DORES


Friday, May 22

FLORIDA VS ARK
Game 9 3:00 p.m. Winner G5 vs. Loser G7 [FSN] (XM 199) FLORIDA
reason- this will be a lower scoring game than normal but gator speed decides it late

LSU VS VANDY
Game 10 6:30 p.m. Winner G6 vs. Loser G8 [FSN] (XM 199) LSU
LSU has a better lineup and has better pitching depth other than the ace


Saturday, May 23

BAMA VS FLORIDA
Game 11 10:00 a.m. Winner G8 vs. Winner G9 [FSN] (XM 199) BAMA
BAMA has the advantage in pitching depth because of avoiding losers bracket & if my predictions hold true then ADAM MORGAN who shutdown UF earlier in the season would be the starter against the gators on Saturday


OLE MISS VS LSU
Game 12 1:30 p.m. Winner G7 vs. Winner G10 [FSN] (XM 199) LSU
reason- LSU is good enough to outslug the REBS as the tourney goes deeper

Game 13* TBD Winner G11 vs. Loser G11 [SECSports.com] (XM 199)
NOT NEC according to my predictions as bama is already in the title game.


LSU VS OLEMISS
Game 14* TBD Winner G12 vs. Loser G12 [SECSports.com] (XM 199) LSU
reason-OLE MISS lack of team depth and speed once again does them in


Sunday, May 24

BAMA LSU
Game 15* 3:00 p.m. Winner G13 vs. Winner G14 [FSN] (XM 199 BAMA

reason- In my opion LSU is the best team in the country and is my pick to win the NATIONAL TITLE in Omaha, BUT BAMA has enough talent and depth to defeat LSU if they avoid the losers bracket as I have predicted them to do...

* - If both bracket winners are undefeated, there will be no 5:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. games on Saturday and the championship game Sunday would be Game 13.

All Times are Central

[FSN] - FS South, FS Southwest, Sun Sports
[CSS HD] - Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast

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