SEC Baseball Tournament Set to Commence in Hoover With 16 Teams in Contention
The 2026 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament begins on Tuesday, 19 May, with all 16 conference teams participating in a knockout format that determines seeding for the national postseason.
The 2026 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Baseball Tournament is scheduled to commence on Tuesday, 19 May at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Alabama, running through to 24 May. The six-day competition will feature all 16 conference teams, with 12 currently projected to secure qualification for the NCAA Tournament. The event comprises 14 games leading to a championship match, with broadcasts scheduled across SEC Network and ABC.
Oklahoma, seeded ninth under coach Skip Johnson, enters the tournament following a strong start to their conference season but recent losses in their final four SEC series against Auburn, Florida, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The Sooners, who dropped their final regular season series to Tennessee in Oklahoma City, are locked into the No. 9 seed and will face No. 14 seed LSU in the opening round on Tuesday at approximately 8 p.m. CT.
The opening day schedule on Tuesday, 19 May, includes four additional matchups. No. 9 seed Mississippi will play No. 16 seed Missouri at 9:30 a.m., followed by No. 12 seed Vanderbilt against No. 13 seed Kentucky at approximately 1 p.m. No. 10 seed Tennessee will face No. 15 seed South Carolina at approximately 4:30 p.m, with all opening round games airing on SEC Network.
Subsequent rounds see higher-seeded teams facing the winners of the opening matches. No. 8 seed Mississippi State will take on the winner of the Mississippi-Missouri game at 9:30 a.m., while No. 5 seed Florida will face the Vanderbilt-Kentucky winner at approximately 1 p.m. No. 7 seed Arkansas and No. 6 seed Auburn will also advance to face the winners of the Tennessee-South Carolina and Oklahoma-LSU games, respectively.
The tournament bracket continues with No. 1 seed Georgia facing the winner of the Mississippi State game at 3 p.m., and No. 4 seed Alabama meeting the Florida game winner at approximately 7 p.m. No. 2 seed Texas and No. 3 seed Texas A&M will also advance to face the winners of the Arkansas and Auburn games. The championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ABC.
Colton Sulley of The Oklahoman is covering the Oklahoma Sooners for this event.
