SEC baseball weekend pitching matchups (May 13-16)

Two more weekend starters will be sidelined for the remainder of the season as Ole Miss lost Gunnar Hogland and Georgia will be without Ryan Webb for the remainder of the season. Hoglund (11 GS, 4-2, 2.87 ERA) will undergo Tommy John surgery on May 18. Webb (11 GS, 3-4, 3.32 ERA) has an elbow injury and will be shutout down for the remainder of the season. Arkansas and Tennessee play the marquee series of the weekend in Knoxville.  Friday’s Podcast will be solely dedicated to this Top 5 matchup.

Missouri at Mississippi State

Thursday 7:30 p.m. CT (ESPNU); Friday 6:30 p.m. CT (SECN+); Saturday 1 p.m. CT (SECN+)

Missouri Rotation

Game 1: Jr. RHP Jacob Kush (2-2, 4.95 ERA)

Game 2: RSo. RHP Seth Halvorsen (4-2, 6.56 ERA)

Game 3: Fr. RHP Zach Hise (0-7, 6.93 ERA)

Mississippi State Rotation

Game 1: Fr. LHP Christian MacLeod (4-3, 3.05 ERA)

Game 2: Fr. RHP Will Bednar (5-1, 3.31 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

Series Notes: Missouri is tied with Texas A&M for the worst road record in SEC play … The Tigers are 2-10 in SEC road games this season … Mizzou has lost eight straight SEC games, and 13 of its last 14 SEC games … Mississippi State has won five of its last six SEC series while posting a 14-4 record during that span … Missouri and MSU are playing just the fourth SEC series since the Tigers joined the league in 2013 … MSU recorded sweeps in 2014 and 2016 … Missouri won the series in Columbia in 2018 … Mississippi State defeated Missouri 2-1 in 17 innings at the 2013 SEC Tournament in Hoover.

Alabama at LSU

Friday 7 p.m. CT (SECN+); Saturday 2 p.m. CT (SECN); Sunday 2 p.m. CT (SECN+)

Alabama Rotation

Game 1: Jr. RHP Tyler Ras (6-2, 5.68 ERA)

Game 2: Jr. RHP Dylan Smith (1-6, 3.57 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

LSU Rotation

Game 1: Jr. RHP Landon Marceaux (5-4, 2.33 ERA)

Game 2: Jr. RHP AJ Labas (3-1, 4.52 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

Series Notes: Alabama is on the road for the second straight weekend and the third time in the last four weeks … Alabama won its first four SEC road games, but has dropped its last four SEC road tilts … LSU has not won an SEC home series this season … The Tigers are 3-9 in SEC games at Alex Box Stadium … LSU has won three straight series with Alabama … The Tigers have won 16 of 20 series with Alabama since 2000 … Alabama has not won a series in Baton Rouge since 2016.

Arkansas at Tennessee

Friday 6:30 p.m. ET (SECN+); Saturday 12 p.m. ET (SECN); Sunday 1 p.m. ET (SECN+)

Arkansas Rotation

Game 1: Jr. LHP Patrick Wicklander (4-1, 1.69 ERA)

Game 2: So. RHP Peyton Pallette (1-2, 4.01 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

Tennessee Rotation

Game 1: Jr. RHP Chad Dallas (8-1, 3.86 ERA)

Game 2: Sr. LHP Will Heflin (2-2, 4.17 ERA)

Game 3: Fr. RHP Blade Tidwell (6-2, 3.71 ERA)

Series Notes: The best series in the nation takes place in Knoxville as the top two teams in the league square off with Arkansas looking to win its ninth consecutive series. Only the 2018 Florida Gators and the 2013 Vanderbilt Commodores have started conference season with nine straight series wins since the advent of the 30-game SEC schedule … Vanderbilt won all 10 in its historic 29-3 campaign. The Razorbacks are tied with Vandy and Tennessee for the best SEC road record (9-3) this season … The last time UT was atop the SEC standings this late in the season was following Week 8 in 2005 when it had a 15-8 record and led Florida by a half game … Tennessee has guaranteed itself a winning conference record for the first time since 2005 and for only the fifth time in the last 25 seasons … Its next SEC win will tie for the most in a 30-game conference schedule with the 1996, 2001 and 2005 teams … Arkansas is 7-0-2 in the last nine series with Tennessee (2015 and 2017 series were rain-shortened splits) … Tennessee’s last series win over Arkansas was 2005 in Knoxville.

Texas A&M at Auburn  

Friday 6 p.m. CT (SECN+); Saturday 2 p.m. CT (SECN+); Sunday 1 p.m. CT (SECN+)

Texas A&M Rotation

Game 1: Sr. LHP Dustin Saenz (5-5, 4.48 ERA)

Game 2: Jr. LHP Chris Weber (1-2, 3.88 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

Auburn Rotation

Game 1: Sr. LHP Jack Owen (1-4, 5.65 ERA)

Game 2: Jr. RHP Richard Fitts (0-3, 6.96 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

Series Notes: The team with the worst SEC home record hosts the team with the worst SEC road record this weekend at Plainsman Park … Auburn is 2-10 in SEC home games and has not won a home series this season … Texas A&M is 2-10 in SEC road games and has not won a series away from College Station … Texas A&M has won four of the last five series over Auburn.

Georgia at Florida 

Friday 6:30 p.m. ET (SECN+); Saturday 6:30 p.m. ET (SECN+); Sunday 12 p.m. ET (SECN)

Georgia Rotation

Game 1: Fr. LHP Liam Sullivan (1-1, 3.96 ERA)

Game 2: Fr. LHP Jaden Woods (3-0, 4.00 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

Florida Rotation

Game 1: Jr. RHP Tommy Mace (5-0, 4.43 ERA)

Game 2: Fr. LHP Hunter Barco (8-2, 4.26 ERA)

Game 3: So. RHP Franco Aleman (1-2, 5.17 ERA)

Series Notes: Georgia is on the road for the second straight week … Florida has won its last four SEC series … The Gators are 10-3 in their last 13 SEC games after starting the season with a 5-6 record … The Gators are seeking to post a perfect 5-0 home series record for the second time in the last three seasons and fourth time since 1998 (1998, 2010, 2018) … Florida has dominated this series, winning 22 of the last 28 series with Georgia.

South Carolina at Kentucky       

Friday 6:30 p.m. ET (SECN+); Saturday 2 p.m. ET (SECN+); Sunday 1 p.m. ET (SECN+)

South Carolina Rotation

Game 1: Sr. RHP Brannon Jordan (4-3, 3.52 ERA)

Game 2: Jr. RHP Brett Kerry (3-1, 2.25 ERA)

Game 3: Jr. RHP Thomas Farr (2-5, 3.72 ERA)

Kentucky Rotation

Game 1: So. RHP Cole Stupp (4-4, 4.31 ERA)

Game 2: Sr. RHP Sean Harney (3-0, 3.72 ERA)

Game 3: TBA

Series Notes: After starting the season with an 11-0 record, South Carolina is 17-18 in its last 35 games … South Carolina snapped a six-game SEC losing streak with a walk-off extra inning win over Mississippi State last Sunday … Kentucky opened SEC play with a 5-1 record (series win over Missouri and Auburn), but 6-12 in last 18 SEC games … Kentucky has won three of the last four series with South Carolina.

Vanderbilt at Ole Miss 

Friday 6 p.m. CT (SECN); Saturday 4 p.m. CT (SECN+); Sunday 2 p.m. CT (SECN)

Vanderbilt Rotation

Game 1: So. RHP Kumar Rocker (11-1, 2.31 ERA)

Game 2: TBA

Game 3: TBA

Ole Miss Rotation

Game 1: Jr. LHP Doug Nikhazy (6-2, 2.47 ERA)

Game 2: So. RHP Derek Diamond (3-3, 4.91 ERA)

Game 3: So. RHP Drew McDaniel (4-0, 4.50 ERA)

Series Notes:  The Friday night matchup between Kumar Rocker and Doug Nikhazy is one of the marquee pitching matchups of the season … Vandy started SEC play with an 8-1 record, but has gone 8-6 in its last 14 SEC games … The Commodores are tied with Arkansas and Tennessee for the best SEC road record (9-3) this season … VU has won six of its last seven SEC road series dating back to 2019, including five sweeps … Ole Miss has lost five of its last six SEC series … Vandy has won three of the last five series with Ole Miss … The Rebels have won seven of the last nine series with the Commodores in Oxford.