We made it. SEC play is here. The Big 12 and Sun Belt also begin conference play this weekend. Teams in the ACC, Big Ten, and Big West will be headed into their second conference matchup. It was tough to choose a series of the weekend, as we have great matchups scheduled down the board.

Highlighted Matchups

• Arkansas @ Ole Miss
• UNC @ Louisville
• Kentucky @ Georgia
• Florida @ Tennessee – SOTW
• Alabama @ Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt @ Auburn
• Arizona State @ TCU
• Oklahoma @ South Carolina
• Baylor @ Kansas
• West Virginia @ Oklahoma State
• Texas @ Mississippi State
• Troy @ Louisiana
• UTSA @ Dallas Baptist
• Grand Canyon @ Oregon State
• Duke @ Stanford
• UC Santa Barbara @ Hawaii

Write Ups

Arkansas @ Ole Miss

Arkansas will head to Oxford with hopes of starting SEC with a road series win. Ole Miss was hammered in Tuesday’s game @ South Alabama, but I am not putting much into that. ach Root will take the ball in game one. Root has been fantastic so far and I expect him to continue his success against this Rebel’s lineup. Both have been great but Root has cleared Elliott in multiple pitching stats including K/9, BB/9, xFIP, and SIERA. Don’t get me wrong, Hunter Elliott is one of the best Friday night arms in the country, and has the potential to flatten this Arkansas lineup in an intense atmosphere. It’s been against weak competition at home, but the Arkansas bats have improved their numbers over the last few weeks. Can they do it on the road against a SEC pitching staff?

UNC @ Louisville

With SEC play beginning, I feel like this series is flying under the radar. With rain in the forecast, they will be playing a double header on Friday. Hopefully we see a betting line posted at some point. After looking like one of the more complete teams in the country, UNC was handled at home last weekend by Stanford to open ACC play. UNC’s ace Jason DeCaro had a rare bad outing last Friday and as one of the best SP in the country, I have a tough time seeing him repeating that performance. On the other side, Patrick Forbes & Parker Detmers are one of the best 1/2 combos the ACC has to offer. It will be interesting to see if UNC bounces back here or if Louisville continues to impress me. I would have to lean towards a UNC bounce back, but not confidently.

Kentucky @ Georgia

This series will be a take on two opposite offensive approaches. Kentucky will bring their small ball approach to Athens with hopes of deadening this offense enough to steal the series. Kentucky’s approach has been successful and was severely undervalued in SEC play for most of last season. Georgia’s lineup has a ton of pop 1-9 and has the highest wRC+ in the country. Kentucky’s Friday starter Nic McCay has been lights out, supporting a 0.42 ERA across 21.1 IP. I I believe Kentucky can keep these games close, but Georgia just has too much pop for them to keep up with.

Florida @ Tennessee

What a series this will be. Florida will head to Knoxville on the right track after a road win @ Florida State on Tuesday while Tennessee has looked like the best team in the country this season. Friday’s matchup with Florida’s Liam Peterson and TN’s Liam Doyle facing off against 2 of the top lineups in the country will be must watch baseball. Florida is a deep roster, but the Pierce Coppola & Cade Kurland injuries obviously hurt. I lean the Vols way to take this series at home, but -300 favorites is way too steep of a price for my comfort. Both of these teams will be fine this season no matter the outcome this weekend.

Alabama @ Texas A&M

Can A&M wake up this weekend? It’s obviously way too early to wave the white flag on the season for the Aggies as we have seen many team catch fire late, but it’s not looked great. The starting pitching has been what was expected, the bullpen, defense, and offense have not. It’s a great opportunity here to turn it around and send a message this weekend at home against a good Alabama team. Bama’s Justin LeBron hopes to stay hot, keeping his name in the Golden Spikes convo. We will see two LHPs take the mound on Friday in Ryan Prager and Zane Adams. Alabama’s Riley Quick will take the mound on Saturday with Justin Lampkin going for A&M. Given my only reason for A&M here is “they have to turn it around at some point” lean Alabama in game two and A&M in game three.

Vanderbilt @ Auburn

Man, we are spoiled with these SEC matchups. Again it’s all early and there is plenty of time but the winner of this series will send a message to the rest of the conference. Can Tim Corbin & Vandy win a SEC series on the road? We saw them end last season without one. Auburn will be without their best bat and catcher in Ike Irish, which is a huge loss. Vandy’s JD Thompson and Auburn’s Samuel Dutton will be an intriguing Friday matchup. I do believe this Vandy team is better than last years. Their pitching staff is deep and their lineup has some great hitters. I do feel like we need to see an uptick in power department if they want to be SEC level. We have seen Auburn slip up a few times this season and no Irish hurts, but I have no reason to back Vandy on the road here. I’ll be watching, but not sure if I will have a bet here unless the line moves.

Arizona State @ TCU

The Sun Devils will head to Texas to take on TCU in the Big 12’s opening weekend. This will be a great series as I believe these two teams matchup pretty evenly. According to the advanced stats, Arizona State’s Ben Jacobs is due for some positive regression. TCU’s pitching staff has a decent team ERA, but they have not impressed me. I give TCU’s lineup the edge here but not by much. After seeing the opening lines, I find some value with backing Arizona State, especially on Friday.

Oklahoma @ South Carolina

The Sooners will be welcomed to their first SEC series ever with a trip to Columbia. South Carolina will look to rewrite the narrative this weekend after an embarrassing sweep to Clemson. Oklahoma has one starting pitching rotations in the country using the Witherspoons and Cam Johnson as a number 3. I believe South Carolina’s offense will improve from their drastic start, but this OU staff will not be an easy matchup. The Gamecock pitching staff has been solid be entire season and I am not very high on OU’s offense. Matthew Becker appeared in relief in Wednesday’s midweek game and will not be in the rotation this weekend. Brandon Stone will get the Friday start. I lean Oklahoma here, but not looking to back in their first game in a SEC environment. Lean under at the right price.

Texas @ Mississippi State

Texas will also be getting their welcome to the SEC with a road trip. Unfortunately for the Longhorns they will have to travel to Dudy Noble, perhaps the best environment in college baseball. It’s a similar trend around the SEC, but we will see another two top arms take the mound on Friday in TX’s Jared Spencer and MSU’s Piko Kohn. Spencer has a 0.86 ERA, but o could see some regression heading his way given the advanced numbers. I am high on Piko Kohn and believe he delivers a solid outing. I lean Mississippi State this weekend as this is just tough timing to be in this spot for Texas.

2/14 Bets

Check back for updates. Follow @ Wes10Rundown on X. Let’s have a day.

Arkansas ML -115 ❌

Troy ML -130 ✅

Georgia Tech + DBU ML +102 ✅

Texas Tech +102 ✅

USC ML -109 ✅

Cal Poly ML -135 ✅

1.25u: LSU + Kansas State ML -130 ✅

Florida State + UCF -128 ❌

1.25u: Alabama / Texas A&M u12.5 -115✅

Baylor / Kansas u13.5 -115 ✅

1.5u: Oklahoma / South Carolina u12.5 -115 ❌

Florida / Tennessee u13.5 -115 ✅

Mississippi State ML -105 ❌

Arizona / Cincinnati u11.5 -115 ✅

Virginia ML -140 ❌

Michigan State / Iowa u12.5 -115❌

Vanderbilt ML -115 ❌

Arizona State +1.5 -125 ✅

Grand Canyon / Oregon State u12.5 -115 ✅

0.25u: UCF / Ga Tech / Kansas St / DBU / Wake / Virginia +890 ❌

12-7 (+4.53u)