The Tide Continues To Fight For NCAA Tournament Bid
Things are constantly happening and there has been no shortage of things happening during the 2021 SEC Baseball Tournament thus far. So far, we have seen the 10-run rule, traditional Hoover rain delays, and quite a few controversial calls.
Perhaps the most important thing happening is Alabama baseball making its SEC Tournament run for the first time since 2016 and playing in the winners bracket Thursday taking on 6th seed Florida. Statistically speaking, Bama needs one more conference win to get to that sweet spot of 15 total conference wins to make a run at the NCAA tournament.
Alabama’s first game in the SEC Tournament against 7th seed South Carolina Tuesday afternoon ended in dominant fashion with a 9-3 win. The Tide brought in 6 runs in the third inning with Jackson Tate hitting a three-run home run.
Wednesday’s thriller against Tennessee ended in extra innings and included many questionable calls. One of which was an interference at second base and retracted Tennessee’s initial walk off win. You can catch all the details of Wednesday’s game here.
Alabama baseball has not made a NCAA tournament run since the Tallahassee Regional in 2014. The Tide finished this year’s regular season 12-17 in conference. They have since tacked on an additional two wins during the tournament bringing The Tide to 14-17. According to the SEC Network, 61% of teams with 14 conference wins have gone on to make the NCAA Tournament.
This is a dramatic increase to where Alabama stood just two days ago with only 15% of teams making it to the tournament with 12 conference wins. 76% of teams with 15 wins go on to play in the NCAA Tournament.
The competition this season across the country is stacked and even after two impressive wins, Alabama is still teetering on the bubble for a NCAA Tournament bid. One more win could put the Tide over with an undeniable reason as a three or four seed in a regional bracket.