| Baseball Picked to Finish 4th In SEC East
1/31/2006 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Vanderbilt was picked to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division by the conference’s baseball coaches today. The Commodores finished fourth in the East last year with a 13-17 league mark and fell one win short of qualifying for the SEC tournament. Vanderbilt is in the midst of preparation for the upcoming season that begins on Feb. 17 against San Diego at the USC/Public Storage Classic in Los Angeles. The Florida Gators are predicted to win the league championship. Florida returns seven position starters and 10 of 14 pitchers from their 2005 squad which advanced to the national championship round of the College World Series. 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, Florida received eight of the 12 championship votes in the poll. LSU received three votes while Arkansas received one. 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, Florida was the clear favorite with all possible 66 points. South Carolina came in second with 55 points and Tennessee third with 46 points. Mississippi State, the 2005 SEC Tournament Champion, was the predicted winner in the Western Division with a total of 54 points. LSU was second with 51, while Arkansas finished third with 49. 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. Each coach also voted for one team as an overall conference champion. Below is a complete look at the coaches’ vote: Eastern Division Western Division ( ) – First Place Votes SEC Champion: Florida (8); LSU (3); Arkansas (1) |
Baseball Picked to Finish 4th In SEC East
