And now we’re really cooking.

A week after conference play started in much of the country, the SEC joins the fun. If you’re the kind of person who gets SEC fatigue, it’s certainly understandable, but at the same time, there’s nothing quite like a big conference series at Arkansas or LSU.

Conveniently, both of those teams are home this weekend. The No. 3 Hogs host 14-4 Kentucky in Fayetteville on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET), Saturday night (7:30), and Sunday afternoon (1). The No. 13 Tigers, meanwhile, host rival Texas A&M at Alex Box at 7:30 Friday, 7 Saturday and 3 Sunday. The Sunday A&M-LSU game will air on SEC Network, while the other five games will stream on SEC Network Plus.

The biggest series in the conference, however, takes place in the east. Defending national champion and No. 23 Mississippi State visits Foley Field in Athens for three games with No. 20 Georgia. MSU has won four in a row while UGA carries a five-game winning streak into the weekend.

Mississippi State is without expected ace Landon Sims for the season due to elbow surgery for the former closer, and is expected to turn to Preston Johnson on Friday night. He’d face UGA ace Jonathan Cannon, ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 83 Draft prospect.

Game times in Athens are set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network, 2 p.m. on SEC Network Plus, and noon Sunday on SEC Network.

(Note: all rankings come from D1Baseball.com.)

Showdown out west: There’s one other all-Top 25 matchup this weekend, and it’s a tasty one. No. 12 Stanford visits No. 16 Arizona for three games at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, starting on Saturday. The Cardinal fell a bit in the rankings after dropping two of three at home to Oregon last weekend, while the Cats won their first Pac-12 series last weekend by taking two at Cal.

This one features not only a pair of top teams, but two of the best position players on the West Coast.

Arizona’s star catcher, Daniel Susac, has lived up to his billing on the young season, with a .407/.438/.679 line for MLB Pipeline’s No. 23 Draft prospect. He leads the nation in base hits with 33. Stanford’s big-time Draft prospect, outfielder Brock Jones, is off to a relatively slow start at .250/.333/.438, but it’s very early and he’s one of the best regarded players in this class. Pipeline ranks him the No. 7 Draft prospect for 2022.

All three games will be on Pac-12 Networks, with starts at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, and 9 p.m. Monday.

Big opportunities in the ACC: A couple of highly touted teams from the ACC have fallen out of the Top 25, but have big chances to get back there this weekend. N.C. State, one of the preseason league favorites, has lost six of its last eight – admittedly with two of those coming to No. 6 Notre Dame. Miami has also departed the Top 25 after a decreasingly shocking single loss to Harvard and a series loss to Florida.

They definitely both have a chance to play their way back into the rankings this week.

The Wolfpack travel to Tallahassee to take on No. 8 Florida State and their two-headed monster of Parker Messick and Bryce Hubbart. N.C. State is led by Tommy White, but “Tommy Tanks” has cooled off quite a bit since his ridiculous start to the season. Those games are set for 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Saturday, all streaming on ACC Network Extra.

The Canes, meanwhile, will be looking for a bounce back outing from ace Carson Palmquist, who got knocked around by Boston College last weekend. They’ll play three at a Clemson team that has lost two straight after starting 14-0. Those games are at 6 p.m., 3 p.m., and 1 p.m. all streaming on ACC Network Extra.

Mid major madness: If you haven’t watched Mercer yet, it might be time to give it a look. The Bears are 15-2 with midweek wins against Top 10 ACC powers Georgia Tech and FSU. They’re fifth in the nation in runs scored, fifth in slugging, and second with 38 homers in 17 games. Mercer has four players with at least 50 at-bats who are batting over .350, and six players with at least four home runs. These guys rake. And you can watch them this weekend, as they play three games at South Florida – Friday at 6:30, Saturday at 2:00, and Sunday at 1:00, all on ESPN Plus.

Assorted pings: They call it the “revivalry” in football, but in baseball it should just be a fun weekend. No. 21 TCU plays three games at Baylor, all on ESPN Plus. We still have two players hitting above .500 for the year – St. Mary’s catcher Nathan Chong (.543, plays at Loyola-Marymount this weekend), and Cornell infielder Joe Hollerbach (.531 through eight games, at Richmond). Purdue became the last team in Division I to lose a game, falling to Illinois State, 4-3, on Thursday night. The Boilers are still 15-1 with three more remaining against the Redbirds this weekend.