Kentucky v. Florida, Game 3 - Saturday

It worked yesterday starting the Game Thread extra early, so baseball is a game of superstition and I'm not going to buck that trend.

Game today is slated for a 2 PM ET first pitch. I am hopeful that Kentucky clinched a hosting spot in the NCAA Regional with the win last night, and will remain in contention for a top 8 National Seed if we can pull off a series win against top 3 Florida by winning today.

I thought we might jump back to #1 in college baseball's RPI with the win last night, but Wake Forest remains number one. They have an outstanding record at 45-8 (ACC 22-6), and are well deserving of that #1 spot, but I like the bragging rights and hope that we can overtake them today.

Florida will attempt to win the SEC Division East championship today with a win or a Vanderbilt loss. In addition, with a win and both an Arkansas loss and and LSU loss, they will have the best record in the SEC overall. Either way, they have clinched a top 4 first day bye in the SEC tournament next week.

Speaking of the SEC tournament next week, the top foresees are already determined: Arkansas, LSU, Florida and Vanderbilt. Kentucky is in the running for the #5 seed:

5. South Carolina 15-12
6. Kentucky 16-13
6. Auburn 16-13
8. Tennessee 15-13
9. Alabama 16-14

I do not know how all of the permutations play out for tiebreakers, but with a Kentucky win in a South Carolina loss, we will do no worse than tie for the #5 seed. That doesn't do a whole lot for us but it would have us playing the #12 seed on Day 1 of the tournament. That will be either Georgia (28-26) or Missouri (30-22), both of whom sport 10-19 SEC records. They are still good teams, though.

Our possible opponents on Day 1 include:

– Georgia or Missouri, if we win today and/or managed to get the #5 or #6 seed.
– Texas A&M (31-23, SEC 13-16) if we get the #7 seed.
– After that, we get into the teams that are listed above that are in contention for the #5 or #6 seed. And when you look at those teams, they are all teams you want to avoid in the SEC tournament – Alabama is red-hot, plus they would be playing "at home,"; Auburn pretty much the same. The non-home teams (Tennessee and South Carolina) are top-notch teams and difficult opponents.

Anyway, some things to chew on while we wait for the game to start today.