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The 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament is here. Follow along with the action below as we update the bracket with scores and analysis throughout the week from Ted Cahill, who is on site in Hoover.
This week’s tournament will likely have a significant impact on the NCAA Tournament bubble discussion overall. It will also feature several of the top prospects in the 2024 MLB Draft, including Florida’s Jac Caglianone, Texas A&M’s Braden Montgomery, Arkansas’ Hagen Smith and others.
All games can be streamed on the SEC Network. Check out Teddy Cahill’s live updates below.
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2024 SEC Baseball Tournament Schedule & Scores
Tuesday, May 21
Game 1: No. 6 Georgiavs. No. 11 LSU — LSU wins 9-1
Game 2: No. 7 Alabama vs. No. 10 South Carolina — South Carolina wins 10-5
Game 3: No. 8 Vanderbilt vs. No. 9 Florida — Vanderbilt wins 6-3
Game 4: No. 5 Mississippi State vs. No. 12 Ole Miss — Mississippi State wins 2-1
Wednesday, May 22
Game 5: No. 3 Kentucky vs. LSU— 10:30 a.m. ET — LSU wins 11-0 in eight innings
Game 6: No. 2 Arkansas vs. South Carolina — South Carolina wins 6-5
Game 7: No. 1 Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt— Vanderbilt wins 13-4
Game 8: No. 4 Texas A&M vs. Mississippi State— Mississippi State wins 5-3
Related: SEC upsets have favorites on the brink of elimination
Thursday, May 23
Game 9: Kentucky vs. Arkansas— Kentucky wins 9-6
Game 10: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M — Tennessee wins 7-4
Game 11: LSU vs. South Carolina — LSU wins 11-10
Game 12: Vanderbilt vs. Mississippi State — Vanderbilt wins 4-3
Friday, May 24
Game 13: Kentucky vs. South Carolina — South Carolina wins 6-5
Game 14: Tennessee vs. Mississippi State — Tennessee wins 6-5
Saturday, May 25
Game 15: South Carolina vs. LSU — 12 p.m. ET
Game 16: Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt — 30 minutes after Game 15
Sunday, May 26
(Championship game): Game 15 winner vs. Game 16 winner — 3 p.m. ET
Live Updates
Friday
11:05 p.m. ET — Tennessee scored three runs in the final three innings to come back to defeat Mississippi State, 6-5, and advance to the semifinals. The Volunteers took the lead in the eighth inning on a solo home run from Blake Burke, who went 3-for-3 on the night.
Tennessee got 5.1 scoreless innings out of its bullpen, as relievers Aaron Combs, Andrew Behnke, Kirby Connell and Nate Snead combined to shut down the Mississippi State lineup. After scoring five runs in the fifth inning, the Bulldogs were held to just one hit and one walk in the final four innings and the final eight batters were retired in order.
7:15 p.m. ET — South Carolina defeated Kentucky, 6-5, to advance to the semifinals. The Gameco*cks got two big home runs – one from Gavin Casas and one from Will Tippett – to edge past the Wildcats.
Casas hit a three-run home run in the second inning but he left the game in the middle of an at bat in the fifth inning. ESPN’s on-field reporter Kris Budden reported during the game that South Carolina fears Casas suffered a hamate injury. If Casas is sidelined, that would be a tough loss for South Carolina. He’s the Gameco*cks regular third baseman and is hitting .259/.385/.476 with 10 home runs.
Thursday
10:40 p.m. ET — LSU ground out an 11-10 victory against South Carolina, scoring four runs in the final two innings to complete the comeback. Shortstop Michael Braswell, who transferred to LSU from South Carolina last summer, drove in the go-ahead run with a ninth-inning single.
Braswell said the game, which was his first against South Carolina, came with some extra meaning for him.
“I couldn’t find a moment where I’ve been happier in the sport of baseball,” Braswell said of his go-ahead hit.
LSU coach Jay Johnson called it the Tigers’ best win of the season. With the victory, they advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
5:30 p.m. ET — Tennessee defeated Texas A&M, 7-4, to stay alive in the tournament. After a rough day on the mound yesterday, when they gave up 13 runs in a loss to Vanderbilt, Tennessee’s pitching staff bounced back behind the piggyback combination of Chris Stamos (3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K) and AJ Causey (4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K).
1:40 p.m. ET — Kentucky defeated Arkansas, 9-6, to stay alive in the tournament. Righthander Trey Pooser threw five scoreless innings and Ryan Waldschmidt hit two home runs.
Waldschmidt has been a big riser this spring on draft boards and after an 0-for-4 game Wednesday against LSU, he showed why against Arkansas. He went 2-for-4 with two home runs and a walk and scored three runs. Not only has his development helped him push his way into the first-round conversation, it has also helped fuel Kentucky’s offensive surge, as he has become a dynamic presence at the top of the order.
11:15 a.m. ET — Arkansas lefthander Hagen Smith, the SEC pitcher of the year and a projected top-10 draft pick, made an brief start Thursday against Kentucky. He threw 36 pitches over two innings. He gave up two unearned runs on two hits and a walk and struck out four batters.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn on Wednesday said Smith would be on a pitch count, but declined to elaborate on just how tight the leash would be. It’s no surprise that it was a tight one, as Arkansas last year held Smith to 76 pitches in his SEC Tournament start. The Razorbacks has been careful all spring to not extend Smith too far, allowing him to throw more than six innings just once.
Smith will now have at least one extra day of rest before his start next weekend in regionals.
Wednesday
12:30 a.m. ET — For the second day in a row, Mississippi State center fielder Connor Hujsak was the ninth-inning hero for the Bulldogs. After hitting a walk-off home run Tuesday night, on Wednesday he hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the ninth inning and Mississippi State defeated Texas A&M, 5-3.
Coach Chris Lemonis joked that the tournament should be called the Connor Hujsak Invitational, Presented By The SEC.
“Two really good nights and it couldn’t happen to a better guy,” Lemonis said.
Hujsak has just two hits in the tournament so far, but they have been two of the most impactful of the event. He’s on a 13-game hitting streak and is hitting .346 this season.
8:45 p.m. ET — Vanderbilt routed Tennessee, led by catcher Alan Espinal. So far today, the three top seeds that have played have all lost – No. 1 Kentucky, No. 2 Arkansas and No. 3 Kentucky, with No. 4 Texas A&M still to play.
Those results make the tournament feel pretty wide open at this stage. The format is unforgiving for teams that don’t receive a bye, but with three top seeds already fighting out of the loser’s bracket, maybe there’s more hope for a team that played on Tuesday to make a run at the title.
5:15 p.m. ET — Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn announced ace Hagen Smith will start Thursday morning’s elimination game against Kentucky. Smith, the SEC pitcher of the year, was always in line to start Thursday, but it makes tomorrow morning’s game appointment television. Smith is a projected top-10 draft pick.
5:00 p.m. ET — South Carolina defeated Arkansas,6-5, to advance in the winner’s bracket. Catcher Cole Messina continued his tear at the plate as he hit two home runs and drove in five runs, including a go-ahead two-run blast in the ninth inning.
Messina, a 2023 All-American, has homered three times in the last two games and nine times in the last 15. He is hitting .320/.451/.675 with 17 home runs this season.
South Carolina looks to be strengthening its case to be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
1:30 p.m. ET — LSU third baseman Tommy White broke the 21st century career home run record, his eighth-inning grand slam was his 75th career home run. With that home run, he passed former Florida star Matt LaPorta, who hit 74 home runs from 2004-07. White is now tied with Tulane Chad Sutter’s for eighth all time and five home runs behind Eddie Furniss’ LSU career record.
White is hitting .347/.418/.698 with 24 home runs this season. He projects as a first round draft pick.
12:44 p.m. ET — LSU righthander Luke Holman threw six hitless innings against Kentucky to open Day 2 in Hoover. The junior walked two and struck out seven batters before exiting the game having thrown 100 pitches and with LSU leading, 7-0.
It was the second time this season Holman threw six hitless innings in a start. He previously did it on March 8 against Xavier. Doing it against Kentucky on the big stage of the SEC Tournament is another matter entirely.
Holman this season is 8-3, 2.54 with 116 strikeouts and 32 walks in 85 innings. He is a borerdline first round pick. Wednesday’s outing – which happened in front of a lot of scouts at the Hoover Met – might help push him him more firmly into the first round.
Tuesday
11:59 p.m. ET — Mississippi coach Mike Bianco after Tuesday’s season-ending loss said he expects to return as head coach next season.
“You’ll have to ask my boss, but I expect to be back,” he said.
Bianco led Ole Miss to the 2022 national championship but the Rebels have now had back-to-back losing seasons. Still, Bianco has led the Rebels for 24 years, won nearly 900 games and has two more years on his contract. A return for 2025 would hardly be unexpected.
11:30 p.m. ET — Conor Hujsak hit a stunning, walk-off two-run home run and Mississippi State beat archrival Mississippi, 2-1, to close out the night in Hoover.
MISSISSIPPI STATE WALK OFF HOME RUN VS. OLE MISS 🚨 @HailStateBB pic.twitter.com/X0NdYD8oV1
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 22, 2024
The game was a classic pitcher’s duel. Righthander Riley Maddox threw seven scoreless innings for Ole Miss, while righthander Brooks Auger countered with eight strong innings for Mississippi State. The difference in the game going into the bottom of the ninth was a solo home run to dead center by Ole Miss first baseman Will Furniss, which Hujsak nearly caught.
Lefthander Liam Doyle took over for Maddox in the eighth inning and quickly got the final three outs. He walked the leadoff batter in the ninth, but struck out Dakota Jordan and got Hunter Hines to ground out to first base. That brought Hujsak to bat with Mississippi State down to its final out. He hammered the first pitch out to left field, setting off a raucous celebration at Hoover Metropolitan Complex.
Mississippi State advances to play Texas A&M and, significantly, keeps its hopes to host a regional alive.
9 p.m. ET — Led by righthander Bryce Cunningham , Vanderbilt defeated Florida, 6-3. Cunningham threw six scoreless innings, holding the Gators to five hits and no walks. He struck out six batters.
Cunningham is a potential first round pick and certainly made a loud statement in front of a bevy of scouts.
Florida is eliminated from the tournament with the loss.
6:30 p.m. ET — South Carolina got a big effort out of key reliever Chris Veach, who threw 5.2 scoreless innings to finish the game. He struck out six batters and held Alabama to three hits and no walks. He stymied the Crimson Tide with his changeup, getting several swings and misses with the pitch.
“Man, that’s an irregular pitch,” Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said. “It’s a pitch that you try to take it and it’s a strike, and then you try to move on it, and, man, it’s 20 miles off a heater. Just a good pitch. He did a great job.”
Veach projects as a top 10-12 round draft pick this summer and is 3-1, 3.82 with 43 strikeouts and 21 walks in 33 innings.
5:45 p.m. ET — South Carolina bashed four homers — including three in the third inning — to beat Alabama 10-5. The win knocked the Crimson Tide out of the tournament. Cole Messina, the No. 161 prospect in the 2024 draft, and Ethan Petry, one of the top prospects in the 2025 draft, both went yard.
1:56 p.m. ET — LSU kicked off this year’s tournament with a convincing 9-1 win over Georgia. Tigers starter Gage Jump struck out seven batters over seven innings while surrendering just the one run. Tommy White added three hits and drove in a run. It was a quiet 0-for-4 day for Georgia star Charlie Condon, although he did make this nice play at third.
