The first day of competition of the 2003 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament will be postponed until tomorrow (Thursday, May 22). South Carolina is the second seed and will face seventh seed Alabama at 1 p.m. CT.

“After considering a number of factors, and consulting with our grounds crew, the National Weather Service and our umpires, we have decided to delay the start of the tournament until tomorrow morning,” said tournament executive director Brad Davis.

“We have had record rainfall this month, including several inches in the last few days and as a result the outfield here at the Hoover Met is saturated,” Davis continued. “The National Weather Service is telling us we will be receiving at least another inch or more by midnight tonight. Additionally, our batting practice sites at Hoover High School are under water as well.

“Rather than asking our student-athletes, coaches and fans to play ‘wait and see’ all day long, we decided it is in everyone’s best interest to simply delay the start of the tournament until tomorrow. The forecast for the rest of the week is excellent.”

The revised bracket calls for four games each day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all to be played at the Hoover Met Stadium. The “if necessary” games, originally scheduled for Saturday evening, would be played Sunday morning. The championship game on Sunday will be played at 4:00 p.m. CDT instead of the originally-scheduled 3 p.m. start time.

The revised tournament schedule is as follows:

Game 1 Vanderbilt vs. Auburn (CSS — Thurs., May 22 — 10 a.m.
Game 2 Alabama vs. S. Carolina (CSS) — Thurs., May 22 — 1 p.m.
Game 3 Ole Miss vs. Miss. State (CSS) — Thurs., May 22 — 5 p.m.
Game 4 Arkansas vs. LSU (CSS) — Thurs., May 22 — 8 p.m.
Game 5 Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (CSS) — Fri., May 23 — 10 a.m.
Game 6 Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 (CSS) — Fri., May 23 — 1 p.m.
Game 7 Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (SEC-TV)– Fri., May 23 — 5 p.m.
Game 8 Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (SEC-TV)– Fri., May 23 — 8 p.m.
Game 9 Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 5 (SEC-TV) — Sat., May 24 — 10 a.m.
Game 10 Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 6 (SEC-TV) — Sat., May 24 — 1 p.m.
Game 11 Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9 (CSS) — Sat., May 24 — 5 p.m.
Game 12 Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10 (CSS) — Sat., May 24 — 8 p.m.
Game 13 “If necessary” Game (TBA FOR TV) — Sun., May 25 — 9 a.m.
Game 14 “If necessary” Game (TBA FOR TV) — Sun., May 25 — Noon
Game 15 Championship Game (SEC-TV) — Sun.,! May 25 — 4 p.m.

-ALL TIMES ABOVE ARE CENTRAL