Texas A&M baseball secures No. 3 seed, double bye in SEC Tournament

The Texas A&M baseball team finished third in the Southeastern Conference regular-season standings Saturday, achieving that feat after taking its second of three games over Mississippi State. The Aggies placing in the top four in the league meant they secured a double bye in the 16-team, single-elimination SEC Tournament, which begins Tuesday in Hoover, Ala.

As the No. 3 seed, A&M will play in the quarterfinals Friday (7 p.m. CST on SEC Network). That matchup will be against the winner of the Wednesday night game between No. 6 seed Auburn and the team that advances from No. 11 seed Oklahoma vs. No. 14 seed LSU in the first round Tuesday night.

With a victory, the Aggies would next play in the semifinals Saturday (4 p.m. on SEC Network). The championship is set for Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. (TV: ABC).

“I think the reset part is going to be physically and mentally,” A&M coach Michael Earley said Saturday on the break his team will have ahead of the SEC Tournament. “These guys need a blow. That’s why we took two days off this week, and I think it helped and they took advantage. And when our guys get an off day, they’re still here kind of doing stuff, but it’s kind of on their own, nice and easy. So I think the mental reset of it is big, especially as it’s getting warmer.”

Whether the Aggies need to win one or more SEC Tournament games to be a top-eight national seed will be the question. That status is needed to host both the Regional and Super Regional stage of the NCAA Tournament, which starts in less than two weeks.

Going into its final series of the regular season, A&M appeared on the edge of that contention. D1Baseball and Baseball America projected the Aggies as the No. 8 and No. 12 national seeds in the postseason Tuesday, respectively. But coming off its series victory over Mississippi State, A&M should be in a better position. The Aggies placing third in the vaunted SEC and going 21-2 in non-conference play will be difficult to overlook.

Earley made his national seed case Saturday.

“In my opinion, there’s no doubt we’re a national seed,” Earley said. “I think our body of work speaks for itself, our quality of wins. We’ve done it on the road, we’ve done it at home. We’re about to be at full health here in just a few days. I think our resilience is something you can’t overlook, but that’s one thing. But our season and our body of work – to me, there’s no question in my mind. We deserve to be top eight, no doubt.”

Below is the entire SEC Tournament schedule and bracket.

Tuesday, May 19 (first round)

Game 1: No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 16 Missouri (9:30 a.m. on SEC Network)

Game 2: No. 12 Vanderbilt vs. No. 13 Kentucky (1 p.m. on SEC Network)

Game 3: No. 10 Tennessee vs. No. 15 South Carolina (4:30 p.m. on SEC Network)

Game 4: No. 11 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 LSU (8 p.m. on SEC Network)

Wednesday, May 20 (second round)

Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. No. 8 Mississippi State (9:30 a.m. on SEC Network)

Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. No. 5 Florida (1 p.m. on SEC Network)

Game 7: Winner of Game 3 vs. No. 7 Arkansas (4:30 p.m. on SEC Network)

Game 8: Winner of Game 4 vs. No. 6 Auburn (8 p.m. on SEC Network)

Thursday, May 21 (quarterfinals)

Game 9: Winner of Game 5 vs. No. 1 Georgia (3 p.m. on SEC Network)

Game 10: Winner of Game 6 vs. No. 4 Alabama (7 p.m. SEC Network)

Friday, May 22 (quarterfinals)

Game 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. No. 2 Texas (3 p.m. on SEC Network)

Game 12: Winner of Game 8 vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (7 p.m. on SEC Network)

Saturday, May 23 (semifinals)

Game 13: Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10 (noon on SEC Network)

Game 14: Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12 (4 p.m. on SEC Network)

Sunday, May 24 (championship)

Game 15: Winner of Game 13 vs. Winner of Game 14 (1 p.m. on ABC)