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SEC Baseball: Top series for Week 2 of 2019 conference play

By Justin Strawn

BATON ROUGE, LA - MAY 12: LSU Tigers head coach Paul Mainieri during a game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers on May 12, 2018, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA. (Photo by John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - MAY 12: LSU Tigers head coach Paul Mainieri during a game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers on May 12, 2018, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA. (Photo by John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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CLEMSON, SC – JUNE 03: Vanderbilt and Clemson played against one another in the NCAA 2018 Division I Baseball Championship regional match up on June 3, 2018 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C. Ethan Paul (10) of Vanderbilt throws the ball to first base. (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SC – JUNE 03: Vanderbilt and Clemson played against one another in the NCAA 2018 Division I Baseball Championship regional match up on June 3, 2018 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C. Ethan Paul (10) of Vanderbilt throws the ball to first base. (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Third best SEC baseball series this weekend: (14) Florida Gators at (8) Vanderbilt Commodores

Why it’s important

Besides the aforementioned fact, this series is a Top 15 matchup, the Gators and Commodores were expected to be at the top of the SEC East standings. But both teams got off to a rough start in their first week of conference play in the 2019 SEC baseball season.

The Vanderbilt Commodores went on the road to Texas A&M and lost two of three games to the Aggies. Losing two of three on the road to the Aggies is not all that concerning, but the way things went down for the Commodores is.

Vanderbilt was not very competitive in the last game of the series, and the bullpen blew a four-run lead in the eighth and ninth innings. The Commodores were outscored in the final 11 innings of the series 13-0.

The Florida Gators had their own issues with the Mississippi State Bulldogs last weekend. The Bulldogs scored a total of 18 runs on the Gators and were outscored on the weekend 18-11.

For 17 of the 18 innings the Gators played in the opening series against the Bulldogs, Florida looked like a far inferior team, and this was at Gainesville. If it had not been for a ninth-inning rally on Friday night, the Gators would have had two straight losses where they weren’t even close to the Bulldogs.

Prediction

Both of these teams want to win this series in the worst possible way. Neither wants to fall to 2-4 in SEC play or worse yet, 1-5 if one of them should pull off a sweep.

Vanderbilt is one of the most talented teams in the country, and I think they will bounce back better than the Gators. Expect Vanderbilt to win the series two games to one.