SEC Baseball Tournament 2017: Thursday Schedule and Bracket Predictions
The 2017 SEC baseball tournament will press on Thursday with four more games, including a pair of showdowns featuring top-five seeds.
The first, which is scheduled to get underway around 10:30 a.m. ET, will pit the fourth-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks against the fifth-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs—who squashed the Georgia Bulldogs 3-0 in their first game of the double-elimination proceedings on Wednesday.
The nightcap, meanwhile, will feature the No. 3-seeded Kentucky Wildcats against the No. 2-seeded LSU Tigers with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
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Elsewhere, the Missouri Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks will square off in an elimination game after they registered losses on Wednesday.
Below, you'll find a rundown of the day's schedules and predicted winners for each game. However, it should be noted there is no projected winner for Game No. 10, since the matchup won't be finalized until after Arkansas plays Mississippi State:
| Game 8 | No. 4 Arkansas vs. No. 5 Mississippi State | 10:30 a.m. | SEC Network | Mississippi State |
| Game 9 | No. 11 South Carolina vs. No. 10 Missouri | 2 p.m. | SEC Network | South Carolina |
| Game 10 | Auburn vs. Game 8 Loser | 5:30 p.m. | SEC Network | ----- |
| Game 11 | No. 3 Kentucky vs No. 2 LSU | 9 p.m. | SEC Network | LSU |
Matchup to Watch: No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 2 LSU
A win-or-go-home tilt between South Carolina and Missouri nearly edged out Kentucky and LSU for the day's most compelling showdown, but it's hard to ignore a clash of SEC titans with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
The matchup is also home to some added intrigue because of the two men primed to take the mound.
According to SECCountry.com's Nick Suss, the Tigers are expected to start Alex Lange, while the Wildcats will counter with ace Sean Hjelle.
During the regular season, Lange started against Kentucky in what morphed into a 4-3 win on April 21. In the Tigers' triumph, Lange scattered seven hits and allowed three earned runs over 5.2 innings while striking out seven.
However, Lange walked eight batters and flirted with trouble as the Wildcats repeatedly had runners in scoring position. This time around, he'll have to be far sharper in order to help the Tigers move closer to an SEC title.
Hjelle, meanwhile, took the mound for the Wildcats the same day when they captured a 12-5 win in the first game of a doubleheader.
Over the course of six innings, Hjelle allowed five hits and three earned runs while striking out three and walking five.
And while the Tigers lost their long regular-season series against the Wildcats, they've been something of a force over the past two weeks. Specifically, LSU has ripped off eight wins dating back to May 11. More encouraging is that the Tigers have topped 10 runs in each of their last three triumphs.
Overcoming the SEC Pitcher of the Year won't be easy, but the rising temperature of the Tigers' bats of late suggests they should have enough to take down Hjelle and the Wildcats.
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