Examining SEC race with 2 weeks left: Battle for 1st place looming

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Heading into Sunday, the SEC race was tighter than ever with a four-way tie for first place.

A dramatic walk-off and a little help from Mother Nature, though, led to two of those teams falling back in the standings to set up a massive series between the division leaders this weekend.

Arkansas rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Georgia and Mississippi State lost to South Carolina in 11 innings Sunday, maintaining the Razorbacks' precarious one-game lead in the SEC West.

In the East, Tennessee swept Missouri and Vanderbilt won its first two games against Alabama before the finale was rained out, giving the Volunteers a half-game lead.

With both teams sitting at 17-7, first place overall in the SEC will be on the line when Arkansas visits Tennessee for three games beginning Friday.

However, whichever team wins that series likely won't clinch anything because the top six teams in the conference are separated by only three games, with one game separating the top four.

Despite losing in walk-off fashion to miss out on a sweep of South Carolina, Mississippi State still has by far the easiest path to overtaking Arkansas, Tennessee and Vanderbilt for the regular-season SEC crown.

The Bulldogs' last two opponents, Missouri and Alabama, are a combined 16-31 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks play two of the top three teams from the East, Tennessee and Florida, who are a combined 32-16.

If Mississippi State and Arkansas end the year with identical SEC records, they'll be declared co-West Division champions, but the Razorbacks would earn the top-two seed at the SEC Tournament because they swept the Bulldogs in Starkville, Miss., back in March.

Vanderbilt owns a similar tiebreaker over Tennessee in the East, but the tiebreaker is essentially worthless now that the Commodores have played one less game.

To regain the division lead, Vanderbilt must win one more game than Tennessee over the final six games of the season. Had they finished Game 3 and completed the sweep of the Crimson Tide, the Commodores would just need to match the Volunteers' record to share the SEC East title and earn the top-two seed in Hoover.

Looking at the schedules, that doesn't seem entirely out of the picture. Vanderbilt travels to Ole Miss - whose ace, Gunnar Hoglund, is dealing with forearm tightness - and hosts Kentucky, who are a combined 25-23 in SEC play.

That is a little easier than the 29-19 combined record of Tennessee's remaining opponents, which includes a trip to South Carolina to end the season after this weekend's home series against Arkansas.

Florida, which hosts Georgia and travels to Arkansas, is also looming just two games behind Tennessee, but the Volunteers own the tiebreaker with the Gators via a tight series win last month.

There is also more clarity at the bottom of the standings after this weekend.

LSU took two of three games against Auburn to give itself a three-game cushion over 13th place and is inching closer to punching its ticket to the SEC Tournament.

The last spot in Hoover is still up for grabs. Texas A&M pulled off a surprising upset by winning two of three games against Ole Miss and is sitting at No. 12 right now, but Auburn is just one game back thanks to avoiding a sweep against LSU.

The Aggies and Tigers meet on the plains this weekend for a series that has huge SEC Tournament implications. Even with both teams playing relatively easy opponents the following weekend - Texas A&M hosts LSU and Auburn travels to Missouri - the winner of that series will be in the driver's seat to earn the 12 seed because it'd own the tiebreaker.

Sitting two games back, Missouri needs some help to jump back into the SEC Tournament picture. Although they host Auburn to end the season, the Tigers play Mississippi State on the road this weekend - a series that could knock them completely out.

Listed below are the division standings, as well as each team's remaining series and the current SEC Tournament seeding...

(REMINDER: In the SEC Baseball Tournament, the two division winners receive the top two seeds, regardless of record. For seeds 3-12, divisions don't matter and the order is based solely on record in SEC play.)