By Doug Kyle
At the halfway mark of the third day in the 2024 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament, you couldn't ask for better weather. And, the fans love the rain that's in the air. No, not the kind that drenches you, the kind that delights you, home runs.
And the kind that's about to tie or break records that have been around for more than half of this event's 47-year history, first begun in 1977 and played every year since then except 2020.
It was in Columbus, GA (yes, Columbus, GA) in 1997 that both single game and tournament records were set for hitting home runs, 38 for the tournament, 6 for a single game. Earlier today, Kentucky and Arkansas tied the game record of Alabama and Florida 27 years ago. As we write this, 32 home runs have been hit, with seven more games scheduled through Sunday's championship.
Tennessee and Texas A&M just finished a game the Volunteers won 7-4. They approached the game record but fell a long ball short, with five between them. A&M actually had three of the five, two by Gavin Grahovac and one by Jackson Appel, and still lost the game, proving that man does not win by homer alone.
The victorious Volunteers tallied a pair, one each by Kavaris Tears and Cal Stark.
With the win, they move on in the losers bracket to meet the loser of Mississippi State-Vanderbilt (later tonight) in a game scheduled to begin 30 minutes after Friday's first game (3:00 pm CDT) concludes. Texas A&M heads home to await their NCAA tournament status, most likely hosting as a Top 8 seed.
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