SEC guaranteed at least one team in College World Series final for 13th time in 14 seasons

For the 13th time in the past 14 season, the SEC is guaranteed at least one team in the College World Series finals. Auburn defeated Stanford by a score of 6-2 on Monday afternoon to eliminate the Cardinal, four of the six remaining teams in the CWS are from the SEC.

Because of the way the bracket is set up, one of either Auburn, Arkansas or Ole Miss is now guaranteed to play in the championship series. The Rebels and Razorbacks are currently facing off in Monday’s final game with the loser set to take on Auburn in an elimination game at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday. The winner from Monday’s contest will then face the winner from Tuesday’s game to determine who advances to the series finals.

The @SEC is guaranteed a team in the #MCWS Finals for the 13th time in the past 14 seasons ♨️ pic.twitter.com/9FPwg5Gj3o

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) June 20, 2022

Of the 13 years the SEC has had a team in the final, it has won seven times. Three of those times it has been an all-SEC final.

Texas became the first team to suffer elimination in this year’s CWS on Sunday at the hands of Texas A&M, yet another team from the SEC. The Aggies now have another elimination game scheduled against Notre Dame for 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday. If they can manage to win that one, they would need to beat Oklahoma twice to ensure an all-SEC College World Series final. The Sooners already beat the Aggies in the CWS opener by a score of 13-8.

Nine of the SEC’s 14 teams made an appearance in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, with Tennessee even earning the No. 1 overall seed. Despite this, the Volunteers are not among the eight College World Series teams after losing to Notre Dame in Super Regional play. The fact that the SEC still made up half the field without arguably its best team is a testament to the strength of the conference.

Although Auburn eventually made its way back, their victory Monday wasn’t always certain. The Tigers found themselves trailing 2-0 after the first two innings, and the score remained there until the top of the sixth. After the first score came in on a walk to make it 2-1, Cole Foster hit a three-RBI double to give Auburn the lead for good. They went on to add two more runs in the top of the seventh to make it 6-2.