“All the top seeds suck lol” - College baseball fans react as all top 4 seeds fall on the same day for the SEC tournament
On Tuesday, The Southeastern Conference tournament's top four-ranking teams lost to the lower-ranked teams. No. 3 Kentucky fell to No. 11 LSU 11-0. No. 2 Arkansas lost to No. 10 South Carolina 6-5. No. 1 Tennessee fell to No. 8 Vanderbilt 13-4. And No. 4 Texas A&M lost to No. 5 Mississippi State 5-3.
It is the first time in the current format the top four-seeded schools fell on the same day and fell into elimination games in the lower side of the bracket. The format will change for 2025. Fans were quick to react to the news, with one seeing more strategy than bad form:
"Talk about saving arms for the ncaa tournament."
The SEC's slogan is "It just means more." However, some fans would like to differ:
"SEC tournament never matters. Last three national champions only won 1 game combined in the conference tournament."
One fan feels it's like poetry:
"4 best teams this year lose to the 4 best programs over the last decade."
In general, it seems baseball is almost impossible to predict.
Arkansas loses by the skin of their teeth in the first SEC tournament game
For all the talk about resting pitchers, one top-seeded school at least kept it competitive: Arkansas. The Hogs fell 6-5 in their encounter with the South Carolina Gamecocks. However, being competitive isn't enough for head coach Dave Van Horn:
“Free passes at this time of year when everybody plays good, they'll come back and get you, and they got us today ... We had a couple of chances to blow it open, Instead of a two-run inning, maybe three or four — one hit away. That was disappointing.”
The Razorbacks attempted to rally in the bottom of the ninth. However, a prior home run by South Carolina's catcher Cole Messina was over enough to prevent them from doing so. Messina was the hero for South Carolina, hitting two homers and going three for four, with five runs batted in.