HOOVER, Ala. — Thursday’s SEC Baseball Tournament quarterfinals at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium have been adjusted due to expected inclement weather in the Hoover area. Game 9 between No. 8 seed Mississippi State and No. 1 seed Georgia, originally scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, will now begin at 1 p.m. ET (12 p.m. CT) on the SEC Network. Game 10 between No. 5 seed Florida and No. 4 seed Alabama will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 9.
The schedule adjustment was announced by the SEC Wednesday night following the conclusion of the second round. No other tournament games have been rescheduled.
Thursday quarterfinals at a glance
Game 9: No. 8 Mississippi State vs. No. 1 Georgia
Time: 1 p.m. ET (12 p.m. CT) — moved up from 4 p.m. ET
TV: SEC Network
Streaming: ESPN+ / SEC Network app (with cable login)
Series context: Georgia swept Mississippi State 3-0 in a series in Starkville earlier this season
Game 10: No. 5 Florida vs. No. 4 Alabama
Time: TBD (approximately 30 minutes after Game 9 concludes; SEC Network has Game 10 slotted around 4:30 p.m. ET on the bracket)
TV: SEC Network
Streaming: ESPN+ / SEC Network app (with cable login)
Series context: Alabama swept Florida 3-0 in Tuscaloosa earlier this season. Thursday will be the fourth matchup between the teams in 2026.
Mississippi State vs. Georgia: the storyline
The No. 8 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs come into Thursday’s quarterfinal off a 12-2 run-rule win over No. 16 seed Missouri in Wednesday’s second round. The Bulldogs — ranked No. 16 in the D1Baseball Top 25 at 40-16 — got six innings and eight strikeouts from sophomore right-hander Tomas Valincius and a historic two-home-run sixth inning from his brother Vytas, who became the first player in SEC Tournament history to homer twice in the same inning.
The team Mississippi State faces Thursday won the SEC regular-season championship outright. The No. 1 seed Georgia Bulldogs finished 43-12 overall and 23-7 in conference play under third-year head coach Wes Johnson — who was named 2026 SEC Coach of the Year on Monday. Georgia is ranked No. 4 in the D1Baseball Top 25.
Georgia’s lineup is anchored by 2026 SEC Player of the Year Daniel Jackson, the junior catcher who is batting .394 with 27 home runs, 77 RBI, and 25 stolen bases — making him just the sixth player in Division I history to record a 25-25 season, and the first catcher to do so. He has been named SEC Player of the Week three times this season and was named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.
Behind Jackson, Georgia’s offense features All-SEC First Team third baseman Tre Phelps (also a 2026 SEC All-Defensive Team selection) and All-SEC First Team outfielder Rylan Lujo. The Bulldogs’ pitching, while not the conference’s deepest, has been steady all season.
The teams played a three-game series in Starkville earlier this season; Georgia won all three. Brian O’Connor, in his first year leading Mississippi State, addressed the matchup at his Wednesday postgame:
“They’re good. They clearly won the toughest league in the country, and they’re obviously incredibly offensive and have a good pitching staff as well,” O’Connor said. “The three ball games in Starkville were all great games. Unfortunately, State came out on the wrong end of all of them. But they were great baseball games and two really great teams, and I expect the same thing tomorrow. We’re going to have to pitch really good and certainly we’re going to have to drive runs in, because they clearly have an offensive ball club that is extremely talented.”
Florida vs. Alabama: the rematch (the fourth time)
Game 10 is a rematch — the fourth time Florida and Alabama meet in 2026. The first three came in Tuscaloosa earlier this season, where Alabama swept the series 3-0. Thursday is the elimination-mode rematch.
The No. 5 seed Florida Gators come off an 8-3 win over No. 12 seed Vanderbilt in Wednesday’s second round, with sophomore Blake Cyr leading a three-headed monster offensive day — his first career four-hit game, including a tie-breaking two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth. Lawson and Hayden Yost each also went a triple shy of the cycle, and the Florida bullpen — Jackson Barberi, Ernesto “Everyday Ernie” Lugo-Canchola, and Luke McNeillie — combined for 4.1 scoreless innings.