SEC Baseball Tournament 2026 Thursday Schedule and Bracket Predictions

The first two of four quarterfinals at the 2026 SEC baseball tournament will be played on Thursday.

The top-seeded Georgia Bulldogs will be in action for the first time this year in Hoover, Alabama against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida Gators meet in Thursday's other quarterfinal.

As top four seeds, Georgia and Alabama received double byes to the quarterfinals and just need three wins in the next four days to win the SEC tournament.

SEC Tournament Thursday Schedule

No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 8 Mississippi State (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 5 Florida (8 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

Georgia owns a 43-12 overall record.

The Bulldogs come into Hoover with a single loss since April 25. They hit the double-digit run mark in six games during that 11-1 stretch to close the regular season.

UGA swept Mississippi State in their regular-season series in Starkville at the start of April.

The top-seeded Bulldogs pushed 21 across the plate in those three games. High run totals became a regular occurrence for Georgia in conference play.

Mississippi State created some momentum for itself in Hoover with a 12-2 thumping of the Missouri Tigers on Wednesday.

The No. 8 seed came into Hoover with four losses in its last five games. All of those defeats came against top-six teams in the SEC.

Georgia should overpower Mississippi State with its bats. UGA will try to become only the fourth team to reach a double-digit run total in this year's SEC tournament.

Thursday's second quarterfinal should be much closer. Florida and Alabama finished with identical 18-12 conference records.

Alabama earned the edge for the double bye and the No. 4 seed thanks to a March sweep of the Gators.

The Crimson Tide put up 28 runs across three games in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama reeled off an 8-2 record in its final 10 contests. Florida went 9-1 in its last 10.

Florida's bats really came alive during the final 10 regular-season games with 10+ runs in six victories.

Alabama had the offensive upper hand back in March, but right now, the Gators are trending in a more positive direction at the plate. That might be the difference in a game with tight margins.

Predictions

Georgia 10, Mississippi State 5

Florida 7, Alabama 6