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Commodores Picked Third in East in SEC Coaches Poll 2/2/2004
Commodores Picked Third in East in SEC Coaches Poll 2-2-04 Birmingham, Ala. – The Vanderbilt Commodores are picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division, as voted by the league’s 12 baseball coaches in the 13th annual preseason SEC poll. The LSU Tigers are the favorite to win the SEC title. The Tigers seek to capture their 14th SEC Championship, having won or shared the title three times in the past eight seasons (1996, 1997 & 2003) and seven times since 1990. LSU won the both the overall SEC Championship and Western Division titles in 2003, while finishing as the SEC Tournament runner-up, falling to Alabama in the championship game. Since 1996, the SEC has named a regular season champion as well as a tournament champion. Prior to 1996, the tournament champion was considered the SEC Champion. In the overall SEC Champion vote, LSU received 11 of the 12 championship votes in the poll, the most possible by one team. South Carolina received the other vote. In addition to picking a preseason SEC champion, the league’s head coaches voted a predicted order of finish in the SEC Eastern and Western Divisions. In the Eastern Division, South Carolina was the favorite with 63 points. Florida came in second with 58 points and Vanderbilt third with 42 points. LSU was the predicted winner in the Western Division with a total of 66, again collecting the maximum points for a team. Auburn was second with 51, while Ole Miss finished third with 41. Points were compiled on a 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for each division. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. The 2004 season gets underway this weekend with Florida hosting Gardner-Webb in a two-game series. The Commodores begin their season Feb. 20 with a three-game series vs. Southern Illinois at Charles Hawkins Field. The conference schedule is set to begin the weekend of March 19-21. The 2004 SEC Tournament will be held May 26-30 at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala. Last year’s tournament drew 122,393 fans, the second year in a row of surpassing the 120,000 mark. Over 1.1 million fans attended regular season games in the SEC last season, the second year in a row the SEC has topped the one million mark in regular season attendance. Below is a complete look at the coaches’ vote: EASTERN DIVISION WESTERN DIVISION SEC Champion: LSU (11); South Carolina (1) |
