#5 Vanderbilt Commodores (23-6; 6-3 SEC) vs. #4 Ugga Sitting on a Tray of Ice to Cool his Balls (25-5; 7-2 SEC)

I’ll forgive you if, going into this season, you did not have the Georgia series circled on your schedule. But here we are: two top five teams (or two top ten teams, depending on which rankings you prefer) facing off for SEC East Supremacy.

The bulk of Georgia’s success this year has been pitching-driven, as they have allowed the fewest hits per nine innings in all of D1 college baseball (5.96 H/9). Further, when runners do get on base, they are often stranded, as the Silver Britches have a frighteningly low team WHIP of 1.09. For comparison’s sake, we have a 7.22 H/9 and our WHIP is 1.27.

Of course, all of this flattens out when we only account for conference play (see this week’s mail bag for more information).

Three weeks into SEC play, Georgia ranks 10th in batting average (.238), but 3rd in team ERA (3.22)—whereas we are 2nd (.313) and 5th (3.39), respectively.

In direct comparison, the ERAs are basically a wash, but we have a substantially better offense. Seriously. Our conference play team OPS (.882) dwarfs theirs (.681). In 9 SEC games, we have 11 more extra base hits and have knocked in 22 more runs than they have. That’s a lot.

At the plate, let’s just say we have the advantage. Of course, we have the offensive advantage against every team. We have a power hitter with a .367 average on our bench, after all.

Though Ugga only has four guys batting north of .300, they are not an offense to be taken lightly. Look out for senior L.J. Talley and junior Tucker “Tucker Max” Maxwell, as both sport an OPS around 1.000—and the latter is the favorite writer of Men’s Rights Activists/Douche Bags everywhere.

In short, this is a road series against a top 5 conference foe. I shouldn’t have to sell it. Watch every inning. It should be good.

On the Mound

FRIDAY 6pm CT SECN+: Jr. RHP Drake “Safari Planet” Fellows (6-0, 3.59 ERA) vs. So. RHP Emerson “His Parents Must Have Hated Him to Name Him Emerson Hancock” Hancock (6-1, 0.98 ERA)

SATURDAY 1pm CT SECN+: Sr. RHP Patrick “Mad Dog” Raby (5-0, 1.22 ERA) vs. So. LHP C.J. “Home School” Smith (2-1, 2.49 ERA)

SUNDAY 11am CT SECN: Fr. RHP Kumar “Harold” Rocker (2-3, 6.00 ERA) vs. Jr. RHP Tony “Toni Tone” Locey (4-0, 2.35 ERA)

The Lineup

See you in the comments.