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Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State Baseball SEC Tournament Seeding Update After Texas A&M Win

Mississippi State baseball is fighting for position, not survival, as the Bulldogs try to strengthen their Hoover path before the SEC Tournament.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State Pitcher Ben Davis (#35) during the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium in Starkville, MS.
Mississippi State Pitcher Ben Davis (#35) during the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

A lot of talk has focused on what No. 13 Mississippi State needs to do to secure a spot as a NCAA Regional host.

The Bulldogs won their 16th SEC game, which has been considered the magic number for an SEC team to host a NCAA Regional, with an 18-11 win Thursday against No. 10 Texas A&M.

But these results are also having an impact on the seeding for next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.

As it stands before Friday’s slate of SEC games, the Bulldogs would be the No. 7 seed in the tournament and wouldn’t play until 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. That means Mississippi State would skip the first round and only need to win four games in five days.

However, with how jumbled together the SEC standings are – nine teams are within three games of one another – there’s the potential for a lot more movement in the coming days.

Some of the teams below the Bulldogs will need a strong showing in Hoover for their postseason resumes.

Teams like Arkansas and Ole Miss are on the bubble of being an NCAA Regional host and, if they can’t achieve that this weekend, they’ll need to win a couple games in Hoover.

A few others know the only way they’ll play past next week is by winning the whole thing. LSU, somehow, is staring at the possibility of becoming the third defending national champion to miss the NCAA Tournament entirely. Vanderbilt isn’t in much better shape.

Mississippi State, though, is in a different spot. The Bulldogs aren’t fighting for survival. They’re fighting for position. And with two games left in College Station, they still have a chance to make Hoover almost irrelevant. One more win would lock in a safer seed and take a lot of the stress out of Tuesday.

Of course, nothing is settled yet. The standings are tight enough that one result can flip two or three teams at once. But for the first time in a couple of weeks, Mississippi State is trending the right direction. Now it’s about finishing the weekend, grabbing that one more win, and letting the rest of the league sort itself out around them.

SEC Standings (as of Friday AM)

  1. Georgia 22-6
  2. Texas 17-10
  3. Alabama 17-11
  4. Texas A&M 16-11
  5. Florida 16-12
  6. Auburn 16-12
  7. Mississippi State 16-12
  8. Arkansas 15-13
  9. Ole Miss 14-14
  10. Tennessee 14-14
  11. Kentucky 13-15
  12. Oklahoma 13-15
  13. Vanderbilt 12-16
  14. LSU 9-19
  15. South Carolina 7-21
  16. Missouri 6-22
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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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