SEC Baseball Tournament 2015: Bracket, Schedule, Format, Team Rosters, Standings

America's pastime gets its due at the collegiate level in late May, as the final weeks of spring not only signal the coming summer but the start of the NCAA conference baseball tournaments as well.

On May 19, the SEC will descend upon Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama, for the 2015 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament. The SEC is a powerhouse in Division I baseball, with 10 of the past 25 winners of the national championship coming from this conference.

LSU is the most successful program in this competition, having won the tourney 11 times. The Bayou Bengals are primed to take the tournament crown once again this year after going 46-9 (21-8 SEC) this year and capturing the regular-season conference championship.

With 12 teams in the tourney, there is much to keep track of in the world of SEC baseball. Here's a rundown of the essential info in advance of the conference diamond action.

Bracket

SECSports.com has an official tournament bracket. A printable bracket can be found here, courtesy of ESPN.com.

Standings

Eastern Division
Western Division
Seed	Team	Overall Record	SEC Record
2	Vanderbilt	39-17	20-10
4	Florida	40-15	19-11
7	Missouri	29-26	15-15
8	Kentucky	30-24	14-15
10	South Carolina	32-34	13-17
12	Tennessee	24-25	11-18
	Georgia	26-28	10-19
Seed	Team	Overall Record	SEC Record
1	LSU	46-9	21-8
3	Texas A&M	43-10	18-10
5	Arkansas	33-20	17-12
6	Ole Miss	30-25	15-14
9	Auburn	34-22	13-17
11	Alabama	30-26	12-18
	Mississippi State	24-30	8-22

LSU and Vanderbilt garnered the top two seeds in the tournament after finishing the regular season with the best conference records in their respective divisions.

The SEC baseball tournament isn't quite big enough to accommodate every team from the conference, however. Mississippi State and Georgia find themselves in the cellar of the conference—as well as their respective divisions—and did not earn a trip to Hoover this year.


Schedule

Date	Game	Matchup	Time (CT)	Watch
May 19	1	No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 11 Alabama	9:30 a.m.	SEC Network
May 19	2	No. 7 Missouri vs. No. 10 South Carolina	TBD	SEC Network
May 19	3	No. 8 Kentucky vs. No. 9 Auburn	4:30 p.m.	SEC Network
May 19	4	No. 5 Arkansas vs. No. 12 Tennessee	TBD	SEC Network
May 20	5	No. 3 Texas A&M vs. Winner Game 1	9:30 a.m.	SEC Network
May 20	6	No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. Winner Game 2	TBD	SEC Network
May 20	7	No. 1 LSU vs. Winner Game 3	4:30 p.m.	SEC Network
May 20	8	No. 4 Florida vs. Winner Game 4	TBD	SEC Network
May 21	9	Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6	9:30 a.m.	SEC Network
May 21	10	Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8	TBD	SEC Network
May 21	11	Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6	4:30 p.m.	SEC Network
May 21	12	Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8	TBD	SEC Network
May 22	13	Winner Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11	3 p.m.	SEC Network
May 22	14	Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 12	TBD	SEC Network
May 23	15	Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 11	12 p.m.	SEC Network
May 23	16	Winner Game 14 vs. Winner Game 12	TBD	SEC Network
May 24	17 (Championship	Winner Game 15 vs. Winner Game 16	3:30 p.m.	ESPN2

Team Rosters

Rosters can be found at SECSports.com under the "Statistics" tab located on each school's baseball-specific page on the site.

Format

The 2015 SEC baseball tournament veers back and forth between single- and double-elimination formats. The tourney starts off with the No. 6 through No. 12 seeds playing single-elimination ball to whittle the field to a final eight teams.

Essentially, they are the play-in games before the real fun begins.

From there, it's a double-elimination tournament up until the semifinals and final, where the format then reverts back to single elimination. There is no third-place game.

This is LSU's tournament to lose.

Ranked No. 1 in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll, the Tigers are one of the better-hitting teams in the nation, sporting a .322 team average, via ESPN.com. First baseman Chris Chinea paced the team with a .374 average, 11 home runs and 53 RBI this year, finishing the season strong, per NOLA.com's Randy Rosetta:

LSU pitcher Austin Bain might be primed to provide the stability the team needs in its rotation after securing a win in LSU's 9-2, regular season-ending trouncing of South Carolina on Friday.

“Got to tip your hat to Austin Bain,” teammate Andrew Stevenson said, via the Advocate's Ross Dellenger. “He did a lot more than we asked of them. He just comes in and shuts them down.”

Three other SEC teams appeared in the top 10 of the Week 12 USA Today Coaches Poll: Texas A&M (6), Florida (7) and Vanderbilt (10).

Robert Cessna of the Bryan-College Station Eagle notes that the Commodores and Aggies have both stumbled late in the season:

"

Sixth-ranked A&M, once considered a lock to be one of the top eight seeds, enters postseason with an 8-7 record in its last 15 games.

"

"

That's maybe not as alarming as we think. Defending national champ Vanderbilt, seeded second in the SEC tourney just a spot ahead of the Aggies, is 6-5 in its last 11 games. And, Vandy is 11-10 in its last 21. Yet a lot of people believe the Commodores will kick it in gear now that postseason is here. We'll see.

"

The Gators, on the other hand, are in fine form heading into the SEC tournament. They've won of seven of their last nine games, including taking two of three from Vandy.

While 12th-seeded Tennessee may not be long for this tournament, it certainly created a memorable moment in getting to this point.

Tied in conference record with Georgia heading into the final day of the regular season, the Volunteers needed a win to secure one of the final spots in the SEC tourney. Down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth against woeful Mississippi State, Tennessee scored three runs against three different pitchers to win the game and book a ticket to the tourney.

The season-saving magic may have been courtesy of this epic tower of a rally cap, via LostLettermen.com:

The Volunteers will take on No. 5 Arkansas on Tuesday, with the winner of that contest playing No. 4 Florida on Wednesday.