5 takeaways from SEC baseball's opening weekend
1. Mixed results from Coast Bulldogs: The Coast's continent in Starkville had mixed results on the weekend as Starkville went 2-2 against South Dakota State and Florida Atlantic. Poplarville's Zac Houston started Sunday, allowing five runs (one earned) in 3.2 innings. He also struck out three and walked three and posted a 2.45 ERA. Outfielder Cody Brown (Biloxi) went 0-for-2 off the bench with a run scored in MSU's 17-4 win over SDSU. He was also hit by a pitch. Junior right-hander Myles Gentry (Gulfport) and freshman left-hander Konnor Pilkington (East Central) were not among the 15 Bulldog pitchers who took the mound over the four games.
2. Fireballer: Georgia starter Robert Tyler got off to an impressive start, striking out 13 against one walk and one hit in five scoreless innings of work. Georgia won the game 4-1 and eventually took the series against Georgia Southern 2-1.
3. Pompey the Great: How about the start of Kentucky's Tristan Pompey? The freshman hit .500 on the weekend, going 5-for-10 with three homers and six RBIs in the final two games of the weekend. Pompey missed the cycle by a single on Sunday. After falling 5-4 to Woffard, UK defeated George Mason 8-6 and Dayton 15-2 in the Spartanburg, S.C., tournament. Maybe the 'Cats will have plenty of pop this year. They hit an SEC-best 10 homers in the opening weekend.
4. Blackman bounces back: Expectations were high for Tate Blackman heading into the 2015 season. The infielder struggled to adjust to the college game, hitting just .197 with a .293 on-base percentage and .254 slugging percentage. As a sophomore, Blackman led Ole Miss' sweep of Florida International, hitting .600 with a home run, six RBIs and two doubles.
5. Long year on The Plains: One weekend does a season not make, but the Butch Thompson Era at Auburn got off to a rocky start over the weekend. How's this for weird numbers? Auburn committed seven errors -- yes, SEVEN -- in its 10-5 season-opening win over Sacramento State. The Tigers' fielders weren't hit with an E in their final two games -- 6-5 and 7-6 losses. Auburn also allowed surrendered nine stolen bases on nine attempts.
This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "5 takeaways from SEC baseball's opening weekend ."