This week, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) released their 2026 conference schedule for the season. Here are ten observations World Baseball Network made from the release.
The opening weekend of SEC play will be March 13-15. Many big matchups are slated for that weekend, including LSU playing Vanderbilt and Tennessee playing Georgia.
However, the highlight of opening weekend will be Brian O’Connor taking Mississippi State to Baum-Walker Stadium to play Arkansas for his first conference series in the SEC.
O’Connor was the headlining hire of the college baseball offseason. He made Virginia into a perennial power and won a national championship with the Cavaliers in 2015.
Arkansas is coming off a successful season that included 50 wins and a trip to the College World Series.
This matchup between Mississippi State and Arkansas is full of headlines and a great way to kick off SEC play.
Tough stretches of the schedule can be found throughout the SEC conference slate. One of these tough stretches is three weekend series Tennessee has from March 27 through April 12.
From March 27-29, the Volunteers will play the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville for a series at Hawkins Field.
Then, they will return to Lindsey Nelson Stadium to play the defending national champion LSU Tigers in Knoxville. That series will be from April 3-5.
Then, they will hit the road again and play Mississippi State at Dudy Noble Field. That series will be April 10-12.
Tennessee did not play Mississippi State last season. However, they did play Vanderbilt and LSU in weekend series this past year and went a combined 2-4 in those games.
Head coach Tony Vitello and the Volunteers will have their work cut out for them.
The month of May marks the end of the college baseball regular season. This makes it crunch time for a lot of teams with the postseason looming.
The Kentucky Wildcats have three tough matchups during the month of May to end the 2026 regular season.
From May 1-3, they will host the Tennessee Volunteers for a border rivalry at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington.
Then, they will head south to Gainesville to play the Florida Gators at Condron Family Ballpark. That series will be May 8-10.
Kentucky will then end the season at home. However, they will host the Arkansas Razorbacks in Lexington from May 14-16.
The Wildcats went 13-17 in SEC play during the 2025 season. Florida and Arkansas will be new SEC opponents for them this season. They defeated the Tennessee Volunteers last season during a weekend series in Knoxville.
The defending national champion LSU Tigers have four SEC weekend series in the month of April. Three of those series will be on the road in some intimidating environments.
From April 3-5, they will play in Knoxville in Lindsey Nelson Stadium against the Tennessee Volunteers.
The next weekend, from April 10-12, they will play at Swayze Field in Oxford against the Ole Miss Rebels.
Then, from April 24-26, they will play at Dudy Noble Field to play against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville.
All three ballparks are noted to be some of the best atmospheres in college baseball and could pose a threat to LSU when they go play there.
It is important to note that LSU was 8-8 in true road games during the 2025 season.
They did not play Ole Miss last season. The Tigers did go 5-1 in six games against Tennessee and Mississippi State and won both of those weekend series.
The Arkansas Razorbacks found themselves with a favorable draw regarding their SEC schedule for the 2026 season.
The Razorbacks do not play Texas, Vanderbilt, or LSU. All of these teams ranked in the top five, alongside Arkansas, a season ago.
The team they play that finished the highest in the conference standings from a season ago is the Georgia Bulldogs.
In 2025, the Razorbacks finished with a 20-10 SEC record. Texas was the only other team to reach 20 wins in conference play.
Auburn got slated with some tough SEC opponents. However, they will face plenty of these top opponents at home in Plainsman Park instead of on the road.
The Texas Longhorns play on the road at Auburn from March 20-22. The Arkansas Razorbacks will travel to play the Tigers from April 2-4.
Auburn will end the season with a home weekend series against Georgia from May 14-16.
Texas, Arkansas, and Georgia all finished in the top five of the SEC last season with a combined 60 conference wins between them.
The Tigers did not play against the Razorbacks last season. However, they did play both Texas and Georgia. During those six games against those two teams, Auburn went 0-6.
Much like Auburn, the Vanderbilt Commodores will also play some tough competition that they will play at home at Hawkins Field.
To open SEC play from March 13-15, Vanderbilt will play the defending national champion LSU Tigers.
Later on, from March 27-29, they will play the Tennessee Volunteers in their electric in-state rivalry.
From April 24-26, they will play the defending SEC regular season champion Texas Longhorns at home in Nashville.
The Commodores will also play Oklahoma and South Carolina at home during their conference slate.
Vanderbilt went 19-11 in SEC play last season and won the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. They had a home record of 29-7 at Hawkins Field as well.
The Ole Miss Rebels will be on the road against some tough SEC teams.
On SEC opening weekend from March 13-15, they will begin conference play at Disch-Falk Field in Austin against the Texas Longhorns.
Then, from April 17-19, they will be at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville playing the Tennessee Volunteers.
From May 1-3, they will begin the final month of the regular season at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Rebels played seven games against Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas last season. They went a combined 2-5 in those contests.
Ole Miss was 9-8 last season in true road games.
Two straight weekends on the road in April stand out on the schedule for the Texas A&M Aggies.
From April 17-19, they will play at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge against the LSU Tigers.
The following weekend, April 24-26, Texas A&M will head much further east to play the Florida Gators at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville.
These two weekend series on the road also come after a big-time rivalry series against the Texas Longhorns in College Station.
The 2025 college baseball season was a letdown for Texas A&M, which came into the year as the number one team in the country.
In SEC play, the Aggies went 11-19 in conference play and were 6-10 in true road games.
Texas A&M did not play Florida last season. However, they played LSU in a weekend series at Blue Bell Park and in the SEC Tournament. In those four combined games, the Aggies went 2-2 against the Tigers.
The Missouri Tigers could only scrape together three SEC wins last season. The wins may be hard to come by in the last four weekends of SEC play.
From April 24-26, they will play the Arkansas Razorbacks at home in Taylor Stadium.
Then, from May 1-3, they will hit the road and play the Georgia Bulldogs at Foley Field in Athens.
From May 8-10, they will come back home to play the Vanderbilt Commodores in Columbia.
To end the season, from May 14-16, they will play the Texas Longhorns at Disch-Falk Field in Austin.
Arkansas, Georgia, Vanderbilt, and Texas were all top five teams in the SEC last season. The four teams combined for 79 conference wins.
CLICK HERE to look at the full 2026 SEC baseball schedule
NCAA News: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
PHOTO: Softball bats leaning on a wall displaying the SEC logo, Friday, May 20, 2022 in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)
