LSU, Arkansas dealt MSU the biggest blows

It doesn’t take long to figure out why the Mississippi State Bulldogs couldn’t finish on top of the Southeastern Conference Western Division.

All they have to do is look at the two teams that finished above them in the standings.

Mississippi State was swept by the Arkansas Razorbacks in the first week of the SEC schedule, then was beaten three times by the LSU Tigers during the final regular season week.

The Tigers ended up winning the SEC Western Division and have a share of the overall title with the Florida Gators, while the Arkansas Razorbacks secured second in the West and the Bulldogs are third.

Going 0-6 against LSU and Arkansas was not the scenario MSU was needing in order to maintain the hold on first place that it had a couple of weeks ago. Take away what the Bulldogs did against the Bayou Bengals and the Hogs and they finished with a pretty good 17-7 mark in the conference.

MSU’s biggest struggles just happened to be against the SEC West and that’s the main reason why it’s not the division champs today. State also lost two out of three games at home to the Auburn Tigers.

The Bulldogs enter this week’s SEC Tournament as the fifth seed and have to take on a familiar foe on Tuesday night in Georgia. It was only a couple of weeks ago when Georgia took two out of three from MSU in Athens. Now the two teams meet in Hoover, Ala., to continue the battle of the Bulldogs at approximately 8 p.m.

As far as the Ole Miss Rebels are concerned, they will meet Auburn for the fourthstraight game after just playing a three-game set over the weekend.

Ole Miss will enter Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. outing with a little bit of momentum after beating Auburn on Saturday.

The SEC Tournament should be another fine event this season.

Vanderbilt plays South Carolina (9:30 a.m.) and Texas A&M takes on Missouri (1 p.m.) in the first session on Tuesday. The top seeds of Florida, LSU, Kentucky and Arkansas have byes in the first round.

If you have never been to Hoover for the SEC Tournament, it’s definitely worth the time and effort to make the short drive into Alabama and enjoy some of the best college baseball the country has to offer.

Danny P. Smith is the sports editor and columnist for The Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SDN or its staff.