NCAA baseball and softball teams to watch midway through the season

The GIST: Now that we’ve emerged from our March Madness–induced fog, the time has come to play ball and shift into College World Series prep mode. Midway through the softball and baseball seasons, there are a few teams prepping for deep runs.

🥎 Softball: After a bumpy season start, the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs are well on their way to becoming one of the sport’s top teams…or they were, until Monday’s shutout loss to No. 16 Kentucky. This weekend’s series against the No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks will likely decide whether that loss was a speed bump or a buzzsaw.

• Arkansas also clawed their way back from an early-March nosedive, so this test could shift momentum for either team. Last night, the Bulldogs took the first game 4–3, but hold onto your rally caps — there’s no telling how the next two will go down.

• No. 6 Florida State is another on-fire program. After last night’s 4–1 dub over No. 4 Clemson secured the program’s first-ever Top-5 series win, the Seminoles have now won their last four series. Don’t touch, they’re hot.

⚾ Baseball: There are a few Top 25 series this weekend, but the headliner is between the No. 1 LSU Tigers and No. 6 South Carolina Gamecocks. The Tigers aren’t just women’s basketball champs — they’re also the hottest thing in baseball right now, especially with outfielder and projected No. 1 MLB draft pick Dylan “The Dude” Crews on the roster.

• But South Carolina has other ideas. These up-and-comers stunned the Tigers 13–5 last night thanks to freshman Ethan Petry’s eight (!!!) RBIs — six of them off a home run plus a grand slam. Today’s doubleheader looks extra spicy now. Game(cock) on.