SEC Power Rankings: Change at the top, Oklahoma baseball questions remain

With just two weekends left in the regular season, SoonerScoop.com’s Eddie Radosevich takes a closer look at the Southeastern Conference and Oklahoma baseball. There’s a change at the top following an impressive weekend in Fayetteville. And there’s questions to be asked about the defending national champions.

SEC Power Rankings (through May 5)

1. Arkansas 40-9, 17-7 (@ LSU, vs. Tennessee)

Pray for the mashed potatoes. Arkansas is the first team in the country to hit the 40-win mark this season, following the program’s first sweep of Texas in school history. The Razorbacks were dominant, on the mound led by junior left-hander Zach Root, who earned SEC Pitcher of the Week honors, and Gage Wood in the first two games of the series. Then the bats took it home on Sunday, launching five home runs and securing Arkansas’ first series sweep of a top-ranked team since LSU in 2001. Want to validate last weekend’s performance? Go do it at The Box this weekend in Baton Rouge. 

2. Texas 38-8, 19-5 (vs. Florida, @ Oklahoma) 

We don’t buy too much into the narrative Texas has simply just been a beneficiary of easy-scheduling during this maiden voyage through the Southeastern Conference. Texas is still holding the No. 1 spot in the polls and a large part of that is due to what they’ve already accomplished. They entered last weekend chasing the best conference record in SEC history, after sweeping five of their first seven series in conference play. You’re allowed to have a misstep, especially in this conference, but the performance in Fayetteville raised some eyebrows. The Horns were outscored 15-1 in the first two games of the series.

3. Georgia 39-11, 15-9 (@ Alabama, vs. Texas A&M) 

Wes Johnson’s club found themselves in the top spot in both Baseball America and Perfect Game’s Top 25 polls Monday morning, following a weekend sweep of Missouri. It’s the program’s first No. 1 ranking of any kind in the polls since 2009. Winners in six of eight conference series and holding the No. 1 RPI spot, the ‘Dogs have their focus on securing a national-seed for the second consecutive season. And four more wins should do just that. Every SEC team with at least 19 conference wins has earned a national seed since 2018. More games at Foley Field is a good thing, where they are 27-3 this season. Georgia’s offense continues to smash the baseball, leading the country with 119 home runs. That’s 17 more than the next SEC competitors Arkansas and Tennessee. 

4. Auburn 33-15, 13-11 (vs. South Carolina, @ Ole Miss)

Quietly, Butch Thompson’s club continues to leave the weekend with series wins. Last week was no different, taking two of three from struggling Tennessee in a contentious and wet weekend in Knoxville. The 33-15 mark is the program’s best overall record through 48 games since going 34-14 in 2018. It’s a balanced attack, too. Six different Auburn hitters hit .300 or better over the weekend and seven different hitters drove in a run. Auburn’s pitching staff held the Vols to one run in two of the three games. Something that had been done by SEC hurlers one other time this season. They also didn’t commit an error. All of this adds up to me as a club we should be talking more about.

5. LSU 38-11, 15-9 (vs. Arkansas, @ South Carolina) 

Despite Anthony Eyanson’s best performance of his college career, a 14-strikeout performance in the Tigers lone victory of the weekend on Saturday in College Station, LSU struggled mightily at the plate. They scored just seven runs over the three-game fiesta. And that’s just the tip. Pause. LSU had just 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position against the Aggies and went 7-for-33 with runners on base. That won’t win a lot of games in the sport of college baseball. No kidding, right? This week the Bayou Bengals will play host to Arkansas for a massive series in Baton Rouge. The hopes of obtaining a national seed still very much in focus. Jay Johnson’s club is ranked No. 3 in D1Baseball.com’s Top 25 and No. 4 in Perfect Game’s Top 25. 

6. Vanderbilt 34-14, 14-10 (@ Tennessee, vs. Kentucky) 

It took some late-inning heroics but the Commodores got it done, overcoming a five-run deficit over the final two innings of Sunday’s rubber game against Alabama. Vandy scored three in the eighth and four in the ninth. All of the sudden Vanderbilt has won nine of its last 13 conference games. Brodie Johnston was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for the second time this season after hitting .438 in four games with three doubles, five RBIs and three runs scored. Vanderbilt will extend its NCAA Tournament streak to 18 consecutive years. But can a strong finish earn them a national seed? That seems to be the lone question of Tim Corbin’s club heading into the final two weekends of the regular season.

7. Florida 33-16, 11-13 (@ Texas, vs. Alabama) 

We made note of the Gators last week but something is cooking in Gainesville. Following a weekend sweep of South Carolina (first since 1996), Kevin O’Sullivan’s club has won 13 of its last 15 games and 10 of its last 12 in SEC play. While we certainly won’t take anything away from the recent run, it has to be noted three of its four straight winning weekends have come against cellar dwellers Missouri, Mississippi State and South Carolina. The exception to that is a series win over Arkansas and the Gators have a chance to improve their resume. It ends with a trip to Austin and final home series against Alabama. During the aforementioned 15-game stretch that has turned the Gators season around, they’ve recorded seven comeback wins and outscored its opponents 136 to 62. So how real is this Gators resurgence? We’re about to find out. 

8. Texas A&M 27-20, 10-14 (vs. Missouri, @ Georgia)

The Aggies continue to put together a strong resurgence in College Station, taking two of three from LSU over the weekend for their fourth conference series win in the last five tries. Over the last 10 games, Ben Royo and Caden Sorrell are leading from the front offensively, combining for seven doubles, nine home runs, 17 runs and 24 RBI. But it was the Aggies pitching staff that led the way against the Bayou Bengals, combining for a 2.33 ERA over the three-game set with 28 strikeouts in 27 innings. The Aggies pitching staff ranks No. 2 nationally in walks allowed per nine, No. 4 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.28) and No. 12 in WHIP (1.25). For a season that was once completely off the rails, you don’t want to be the regional that gets to host Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament. 

9. Oklahoma 32-14, 13-11 (@ Kentucky, vs. Texas) 

As I wrote on Sunday, it was a good weekend for Oklahoma baseball. But it could have been a great weekend had they been able to finish off a sweep of Ole Miss. Kyson Witherspoon was dominant in the Friday opener, throwing seven scoreless innings, allowing just a one hit and eight strikeouts. Witherspoon is quietly positioning himself to be named a Golden Spikes finalist if he can continue his superb junior season for Oklahoma.

And while Easton Carmichael’s two home run day helped the Sooners clinch its fifth conference series victory on Saturday, there’s some major questions that remain unanswered. Oklahoma is still looking to replace Dayton Tockey at first base. And the defense remains an issue (Oklahoma committed two errors in Sunday’s 7-3 loss). That’ll cost you a game of much bigger importance as we head into mid-May. But on the flip side of that, you have continued steps made by Cade Crossland and Malachi Witherspoon. Oklahoma baseball has enough pitching to make a lot of noise in the postseason. Will the offense and defense match those arms? 

10. Tennessee 37-11, 14-10 (vs. Vanderbilt, @ Arkansas)

Um, what the hell is going with the defending national champions? Tony Vitello’s club has now lost three consecutive conference series and four of its last five heading into this week’s showdown with Vanderbilt. Obviously this ranking is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction with the Vols still clinging to host responsibilities in the latest regional projections but this current swoon is starting to look like a team that has bigger issues than just a bad few weeks. We’re not sure if there are any panic buttons being pushed in Knoxville but there’s too much talent in Vitello’s program to be playing baseball like this. Need to keep an eye on this over the next few weeks. 

11. Alabama 36-12, 13-11 (vs. Georgia, @ Florida) 

Since taking a series from the Sooners, the Tide have lost three of its last four weekends. That continued this past weekend when Alabama saw a five run lead evaporate over the final two innings of its rubber game in Nashville. From the outside looking in, it feels like Alabama is headed in the wrong direction and the rest of the way the schedule is tough. They welcome Georgia to Tuscaloosa this weekend and close with a trip to Gainesville. It’ll be interesting to see where Alabama finds themselves when the conference converges upon Hoover for the SEC Tournament. The bleeding has to be stopped – and quick. 

12. Ole Miss 33-15, 13-11 (@ Mississippi State, vs. Auburn) 

After scoring just three runs in the first two games of its series in Norman, Ole Miss scored at least one run in five innings in the Sunday finale. Austin Fawley hit his team-leading 15th home run of the season in the Rebels only win of the series. He’s hit a home run in nine of Ole Miss’ last 14 games. Mike Bianco’s club is no stranger to making postseason runs (see 2022), but they’ve now lost three of their last four conference series. After losing two of three to Oklahoma baseball, Ole Miss will likely be headed on the road for a regional. 

13. Kentucky 25-20, 10-14 (vs. Oklahoma, @ Vanderbilt) 

The Wildcats frustrating, injury riddled, up and down season continued over the weekend. After logging two consecutive winning weekends against Tennessee and South Carolina, Kentucky was swept in Starkville last weekend for the first time in 21 consecutive SEC series. MSU has been a problem as UK has now lost eight straight and 12 of 13 at Dudy Noble Field. The Cats will finish finals this week before welcoming Oklahoma baseball to Lexington for a weekend series. 

14. Mississippi State 29-19, 10-14 (vs. Ole Miss, @ Missouri) 

It sure had to be an insult to injury for former head coach Chris Lemonis this past weekend after Mississippi State sent the head coach walking, his team responded by sweeping Kentucky. After sweeping a double-header on Saturday, Mississippi State finished with a 6-1 win. The Diamond Dogs will need to go on a run in Hoover if they want to have any hopes of extending its season past the SEC Tournament. But we’re sure this weekend’s series against Ole Miss will have Dudy Noble Field buzzing. Good on ya, State and good luck. 

15. South Carolina 26-23, 5-19 (@ Auburn, vs. LSU) 

Want to get an idea of how Paul Mainieri’s first season in Columbia is going? Just type in ‘South Carolina baseball’ into the ol Google machine. I’ll wait. It’s never good when a first year head coach hasn’t even finished the season and the interwebs are wondering if he’ll be back for a second season. And who’s to blame the Gamecock fanbase for their ire. They were outscored 30-3 in the final two games of the series and postseason hopes are all but gone. In its SEC losses, South Carolina is losing by an average of nearly six runs per game.

(Unranked) Missouri 13-34, 0-24 (@ Texas A&M, vs. Mississippi State) 

Yes, you read that right. Missouri is no longer ranked in this power ranking. And yes, 0-30 is still on the table. And there doesn’t seem to be a win in sight with a road trip to College Station this weekend and final home series versus Mississippi State. They were at the very least competitive last weekend in Columbia.