SEC Baseball Tournament 2018: Tuesday Schedule and Bracket Predictions

The Southeastern Conference has long had a reputation for playing outstanding football—perhaps the best in the nation. Some would say that it's an absolute given.

The SEC is also getting the job done in baseball this year. As the conference prepares to start its end-of-season tournament, seven SEC teams find themselves in the D1Baseball.com Top 25.

Florida is the No. 1 team in the nation with a 41-15 record, even though the Gators are coming off a humbling 0-3 week. Ole Miss (42-14) sits in the No. 4 position, while Georgia and Arkansas are both 37-17 and ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.

Those four teams have the top seeds in the SEC Baseball Tournament, which will be held at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.

The tournament commences with the No. 5 through 12 seeds playing Tuesday, with the four winners moving onto the double-elimination portion of the tournament while the losers are eliminated.

The Gators will meet the winner of Tuesday's game between eighth-seeded LSU and ninth-seeded Mississippi State Wednesday.

Ole Miss will take on the winner of Auburn (7) and Kentucky (10), while Georgia plays its first game against the winner of the Vanderbilt-Texas A&M game. Arkansas will play the winner of South Carolina (5) and Missouri (12) in its first tournament game. 

If weather does not delay the tournament at any point, the semifinals will be held Saturday and the championship game will be played Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and televised by ESPN2.

Tuesday's SEC Tournament Schedule (All times ET, all games televised by SECN)

Texas A&M (11) vs. Vanderbilt (6), 10:30 a.m.

Kentucky (10) vs. Auburn (7), 2 p.m.

Mississippi State (9) vs. LSU (8), 5:30 p.m.

Missouri (12) vs. South Carolina (5), 9 p.m.

Florida was swept in a series by the Mississippi State Bulldgos and has lost four games in a row. However, head coach Kevin O'Sullivan is hoping his team can reset as they prepare to play in the conference tournament.

"I’m going to take some time to reflect back on the weekend. We just got beat in every phase," O’Sullivan said, per Ryan Young of SECCountry.com. "We talked about it this week after we tied for the SEC championship last Saturday that we needed to keep our edge. Obviously this weekend we weren’t able to do that. It was a weird weekend altogether."

Brady Singer has a 10-1 record for Florida with a 2.25 earned-run averaged and 92 strikeouts in 88.0 innings. Jackson Kovar brings a 9-3 record with a 3.01 ERA, and he has fanned 84 hitters in 86.2 innings.

Jonathan India has been hitting the ball hard all season, and he brings a .365 average with a .730 slugging percentage. He has driven in 40 runs, while teammate JJ Schwarz is hitting .325 with .601 slugging percentage and 46 RBI.

The Rebels come into the tournament having won seven of their last eight games. Ryan Rolison has an 8-4 record along with a 3.95 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 82.0 inning. Brady Feigl has an 8-5 record with a 4.03 ERA and he has 82 strikeouts in 80.1 innings.

Ryan Olenek is hitting .373 with a .500 slugging percentage and he has scored 31 runs. Thomas Dillard is the team's top slugger with 12 home runs and 52 RBI.

Texas A&M vs. Vanderbilt

Texas A&M (36-19, 13-17) is struggling as it comes into the SEC tournament. The Aggies have lost five of their last seven games, and they are going to have to turn it around right away. 

Michael Helman is an impressive hitter with a .365 average and six home runs. He is joined by Braden Shewmake, who is hitting .329 and has a team-best 42 runs batted in.

Vanderbilt (31-24, 16-14) comes into the conference tournament having won four in a row and six of seven. 

Mason Hickman has a 7-2 record, and while he can work out of the bullpen, he started 11 of the 14 games he has appeared in this season. Hickman has a 4.96 ERA, and he has fanned 60 hitters in 65.1 innings.

Stephen Scott and Pat DeMarco are the Commodores' top power hitters, as those two have combined for 21 home runs.

The Commodores should be able to eliminate the Aggies

Kentucky vs. Auburn

Kentucky (34-21, 13-17) comes into the tournament with a three-game losing streak and having dropped four of five.

The Wildcats depend on the big hitting of Kole Cottam, who comes into the tournament with a .346 batting average and 18 home runs. He is capable of turning any game around. Luke Heyer is also a top slugger for Kentucky with 17 homers and a team-best 57 RBI.

Auburn (37-19, 15-15) lost three straight games to Ole Miss earlier this month and then dropped their next game to Troy before closing the season with two wins in three games over LSU.

Will Holland is the Tigers' leading hitter with a .329 batting average, and he has also hit 10 home runs. Brendan Venter, Steven Williams, Brett Wright and Edouard Julien have all hit 10 or more home runs for the Tigers.

Auburn has the power to survive and advance in this game.

Mississippi State vs. LSU

Mississippi State (31-24, 15-15) comes into the SEC tournament with a boatload of confidence after taking down Florida inn three consecutive games to close the season.

Ethan Small started and appeared in 14 games this season, and he has a 5-3 record with a 2.94 ERA. He has 99 strikeouts in 79.2 innings. Jake Mangum is hitting a team-high .350 and he has 82 hits and 51 runs  scored. He has stolen 14 bases in 16 attempts.

LSU (33-23, 15-15) has had an up-and-down year, but the Tigers come into the tournament having won seven of their last 10 games.

Ma'Khail Hilliard has a 9-4 record along with a 3.53 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 71.1 innings. Antoine Duplantis is the leading hitter for LSU with a .333 average, 45 runs scored and 42 RBI. Daniel Cabrera and Beau Jordan lead the team with eight home runs each.

Mississippi State has the momentum and should win this game. 

Missouri vs. South Carolina

Missouri (34-21, 12-18) comes into this tournament as the lowest-seeded team, but the Tigers have won three of their last four games. 

If Missouri is going to pull off an improbable run, the Tigers will need a big effort from Kameron Misner and Trey Harris. Misner leads the team with a .360 batting average, while Harris has a team-high 11 home runs and 50 RBI.

South Carolina (31-22, 16-13) has won four of its last five games. The Gamecocks also took two of three in a recent series with Missouri.

Cody Morris has a 7-3 record with a 3.80 ERA, and he has struck out 76 batters in 71.0 innings. Madison Stokes leads the team with a .347 average, and he is also slugging .627. Carlos Cortes has blasted a team-high 15 home runs.

If the Gamecocks play a solid game, they should be able to take down the 12th-seeded Tigers.