SEC Baseball Tournament 2023: Championship Schedule and Predictions
The 2023 SEC Men's Baseball Tournament comes to a head Sunday when Vanderbilt and Texas A&M play for the right to call themselves champions following upset victories in the semifinals Saturday.
The Commodores and Aggies have staved off elimination on more than one occasion to earn their way to the title game, with one leaning on their defense to stifle the bats of opposing teams and the other proving they can go run for run with any opponent.
Who will win the SEC title and build the ever-important momentum ahead of the NCAA Men's World Series?
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Sunday's Tournament Final Schedule
No. 4 Vanderbilt vs. No. 10 Texas A&M (3:00 p.m., ESPN 2)
Prediction
The Aggies have arguably the best pitching in the entire tournament, as we saw in the quarterfinals with Travis Lamkins and again, Saturday, with Troy Wansing. When asked, the Texas A&M rotation and bullpen have stepped up and sat down opposing batters to secure their team the win.
Wansing entered Saturday's game in the ninth inning, halted an Arkansas comeback attempt and cashed his team's ticket to Sunday's championship game.
The Aggies will need all they can get from the defensive side of the ball against a Vanderbilt team that unleashed an offensive onslaught Saturday against top-seeded Florida.
For a moment, the Gators looked like an unstoppable force destined to win the tournament and position themselves as favorites in the upcoming World Series. Instead, Vanderbilt refused to lose to their conference rivals for a fifth time this year.
They put up 11 runs against Florida and relied on solid defense in order to limit the top-seeded team to six runs.
It will be tough for Vanderbilt to get that same production against an Aggies pitching staff with a combined 1.57 WHIP and 595 total strikeouts this season, but no one expected them to reverse course against a Florida team that had owned them in recent meetings and advance to the finals.
The Aggies have been a great story and have a very realistic opportunity to win the tournament as the hottest team in the competition, but this feels like Vanderbilt's time to erase all doubts about its ability to both conquer the SEC and make a run in the upcoming NCAA World Series.
Prediction: Vanderbilt
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