HOOVER, Ala. -- The sun finally broke through for an extended period Thursday afternoon at the SEC Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, but the event is still running way behind.
The rain-deluged tournament has endured long delays each of its first three days, but tournament officials were hopeful they could still conduct the full double-elimination competition.
The tourney was three games behind to start the day Thursday, and the Florida-Texas A&M game slated for 9:30 a.m. Central actually started at 2:48 p.m. At that time, the Arkansas loser's bracket game was rescheduled for 9:30 a.m. today, and that's if two other games could be finished Thursday night.
The reconfigured schedule now calls for four games Friday and four games Saturday, setting up Sunday's 2 p.m. final.
Gator rule
Florida's 10-0 loss to Texas A&M on Thursday was its seventh via the run rule in the conference tournament and its third in the past five tournaments.
The Gators were eliminated in a 16-0 loss to Arkansas in 2017, fell 11-0 to LSU in 2018 and managed one hit in Thursday's blanking by the Aggies.
Taj Mahal
Tennessee Coach Tony Vitello, speaking on the SEC Network on Tuesday night, scattered praise to Arkansas -- where he was an assistant coach in 2014-17 -- and others in describing how he had to instill an identifiable hook to lift the Volunteers.
"I had to find a niche, and it kind of organically became a bunch of guys with attitude," Vitello said, referencing teammates like Max Scherzer and others from his playing days at Missouri and comparing them to his current team's Drew Gilbert and Evan Russell.
"I think you learn to look for it a little bit in recruiting, and also the family background, just how guys compete," Vitello said. "And again, we needed a niche at Tennessee because we don't have the tradition that LSU had, we don't have the in-state players and the warmth at Florida. I came from Arkansas, where you have the Taj Mahal, not just of the facility but the fans filling it. So what's our niche?"
Aggie assault
Tennessee led the country with 137 home runs, a .423 on-base percentage, a 2.37 earned-run average, was second with 526 runs and 12th with a .310 batting average entering the postseason.
The Volunteers' dominance extended to SEC play, where their 25-5 record was the best in the league since Vanderbilt's 27-3 mark in 2013.
However, the Volunteers did not dominate in all the offensive statistics in conference-only games. Texas A&M led the league with a .290 average in conference games, as well as 233 runs scored. The Volunteers were second in both categories at .284 with 229 runs. The next-highest run total belonged to LSU with 199.
Newest projections
Baseball America projected three SEC teams to earn NCAA regional host bids and 10 SEC teams to make the NCAA field in its latest bracket prediction Monday.
The magazine projected Tennessee as the No. 1 overall seed, Texas A&M as the No. 6 seed and Auburn as the No. 10 seed.
It projected Arkansas as a 2 seed at Oklahoma State, Florida as a 2 seed at Miami, Georgia as a 2 seed at Stanford, LSU as a 2 seed at Southern Miss, Vanderbilt as a 2 seed at Louisville, Alabama as a 3 seed at Oregon State and Ole Miss as a 3 seed at TCU.
Arkansas is not a host in D1Baseball's latest projection, which added Alabama into its picture.
D1Baseball projected Tennessee as the overall No. 1 seed, Texas A&M as the No. 7 seed and Auburn as the No. 12 seed.
Also in its projection: 2 seeds Arkansas (at Texas), Florida (at Miami) Georgia (at Georgia Southern), LSU (at Southern Miss) and Vanderbilt (at Virginia Tech), and 3 seeds Alabama (at Louisville) and Ole Miss (at Stanford).
20-plus
Two Florida players surpassed the 20-home run mark this season, a first in program history.
Left fielder Wyatt Langford led the club with a .363 average and 21 home runs heading into Thursday's game against Texas A&M and outfielder Jud Fabian had a .244 average and 20 home runs.
Hot 6th
Texas A&M is dominating in one particular inning more than any other.
With three runs in the sixth on Thursday against Florida, the Aggies improved their scoring lead to 64-15 in that frame this season.
Sizzling
Arkansas outfielder Chris Lanzilli has swung a hot bat since jumping back into the lineup regularly at Alabama last weekend after missing four of the previous six games.
Lanzilli, who leads the team with a .320 average, is 8 for 17 (.471) in the past four games, with 6 runs driven, 3 runs scored, 2 doubles and a home run.
Arkansas shortstop Jalen Battles has increased his average 24 points in the past eight games, from .270 to .294. Battles has five multi-hit games in that span. He is 7 for 15 (.467) in the past four games, all against Alabama, and is riding a four-game RBI streak.
Slumping
Arkansas catcher Michael Turner is 5 for 39 since going 3 for 4 in a series-opening win at Auburn on May 6. His batting average dropped to .294 after an 0 for 4 against Alabama on Wednesday, the first time his average has been lower than .300 since he was at .278 following the sixth game on Feb. 27. He went 3 for 3 the following game against Nebraska-Omaha to raise his average to .381. He spent two games over .400 after going 4 for 4 against Illinois-Chicago on March 12.
Arkansas second baseman Robert Moore, who is hitting .231, has not gotten his average above .240 since he was hitting .244 following a 1-for-4 game against Arkansas State on April 20. Moore has gone hitless in three of the past four games.
Arkansas outfielder Zack Gregory is 4 for 29 (.138) over his past 16 games, with his batting average dropping from .291 to .250 in that span. He has drawn eight walks and has been hit by seven pitches in that span.
Chris Lanzilli
Jalen Battles
Michael Turner
Robert Moore