I’m going to go with the chalk here. I like Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi State as the best 4 teams.

Semifinal game 1, Saturday noon CT, SEC Network

No.1 seed Vanderbilt vs. No.4 Mississippi State

The starting 8 for Vanderbilt is the best hitting team in the country right now. They’ve hit at a .316 clip and right fielder JJ Bleday led the conference and the country with 25 home runs. He was named SEC player of the year on Monday. Third baseman Austin Martin hit .432 this season to lead the SEC and was second nationally. He was also an All SEC player. Catcher Philip Clarke was a hitting machine as well hitting .323 and drove in 59 runs. Shortstop Ethan Paul hit .324 and drove in 63 runs. Bleday and Paul went back to back homers on a Sunday a week and a half ago in the top of the 9th inning against South Carolina to clinch that game. They did the same thing last Saturday in the final game of the regular season at Kentucky in the top of the 9th to clinch that game as well. This team is a hitting machine. But pitching can be a concern at times. The starters are pretty solid, but the bullpen, particularly the left handed arms can be wild and inaccurate. Mississippi State has the great Jake Magnum, who hit over .350 this season and is an outstanding baseball player in the outfield.

While Vanderbilt’s hitting is sensational, and the defense at a .982 percentage leads the nation, the pitching concerns me as the postseason matriculates. But I like the Commodores here.

Vanderbilt 5, State 4

Semifinal 2, No.2 Arkansas versus No.3 Georgia 4 PM CT SEC Network

I really like Georgia’s pitching. I’ll take the Dawgs over an outstanding top 10 Arkansas team that is coming back from a final appearance in the CWS where only a dropped pop fly kept them from winning it all. Pretty bullish on Georgia’s pitching though.

Georgia 4, Arkansas 2

Championship game, Sunday, 2 PM CT, ESPN2

I’m going to take the Vanderbilt Commodores to win the SEC Championship in a battle with the Dawgs. Just think Vanderbilt has the best team in the conference and while pitching is a concern at times, there are excellent arms on this team and closer Tyler Brown is a stud with 13 saves. I’ll take the Commodores.

Vanderbilt 4, Georgia 3

After an extremely successful regular season, our No.2 Vanderbilt Commodores begin the postseason and the SEC Tournament today at 4:30 PM CT versus the 33-23 Auburn Tigers, a 5-3 victor yesterday over the Tennessee Vols.

We finished the season at 45-10 and 23-7 in the conference and won the SEC. We won 18 of our last 19 games. JJ Bleday was named SEC player of the year after his phenomenal season in which he led the country with 25 home runs. Austin Martin, who hit .432 this season, leading the conference and second nationally, was a first team All-SEC selection also, as were catcher Philip Clarke and closer Tyler Brown, who led the SEC with 13 saves. 

Ethan Paul was selected as a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, which recognizes the nation’s top shortstop. Philip was selected as a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award, awarded to the nation’s top catcher. Austin and Julian Infante were selected on the All-SEC defensive team and Kumar Rocker was selected on the All-SEC freshmen team.

So the accolades have poured in. Still, we have a lot of work ahead of us in our pursuit for a trip to Omaha and a chance to win it all.

It starts today with Drake Fellows on the mound. Drake is 9-0 with a 4+ ERA right now, so he’s had some trouble recently giving up runs, but some of it has been not as solid defense behind him. Drake’s a warrior, he’ll be ready. Auburn has not yet announced their pitcher today.

Awesome season, but plenty of work left starting today.

The women’s golf team finished 24th at the NCAA Championships. Still had a super season and there is a lot of young talent returning.

Men’s Golf tees it up on Friday at the NCAA Championships at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Will keep you up to date on the men.

Big day for the team as we start our postseason journey. Will keep you abreast on all the action in the upcoming days.