You wouldn't know it by the cold and precipitation-filled weather most of the country is still experiencing, but college baseball season is now in full swing. With Vanderbilt winning the College World Series last June, an SEC team has been crowned the sport’s best in four out of the last six seasons and the conference once again appears to be loaded in 2015.
Eight different SEC schools are ranked in D1Baseball.com’s latest Top 25 rankings with the Commodores and Florida holding the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
Gamecocks head to Clemson
After losing its season-opener to College of Charleston, No. 5 South Carolina has since rattled off six straight wins and are now preparing for its upcoming weekend series with rival Clemson after Tuesday’s game versus Davidson was canceled due to inclement weather.
The Gamecocks are 9-2 against the Tigers over the course of the past three seasons and will travel to Clemson’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium for game one on Friday. The series will then move to Fluor Field in Greenville for a neutral site game before the series finale is played at Carolina Stadium on Sunday.
Clemson is 4-2 as the Tigers went 1-2 in its opening series against West Virginia before sweeping Maine in a three-game series last weekend.
Defending champions still on top
One year removed from its first national championship, Vanderbilt still finds itself as the SEC’s best. The Commodores were picked to win the conference in 2015 by SEC coaches and still possess a lot of talent from last year’s club.
Despite having a bit of an underwhelming start to the season with a pair of losses to Santa Clara and Indiana State, Vanderbilt (4-2) is still expected to be among the nation’s best and placed five players on the 2015 SEC baseball coaches preseason all-SEC first and second teams. Vanderbilt junior pitcher Walker Buehler has yet to pitch in 2015 due to arm issues after posting a 2.64 ERA in 2014, but the right-hander’s return should boost the Commodores’ pitching rotation.
Vanderbilt visits Carolina Stadium for a three-game series from April 16 through April 18.
Missouri off to surprising start
Missouri, a program that has yet to have a winning record in its first two seasons as a member of the SEC, is off to a surprisingly good start in 2015. The Tigers were picked to finish last in the SEC East, but have started off the year strong. Missouri is 7-1, albeit against a weak nonconference schedule, but its fast start has caught some by surprise. Missouri head coach Tim Jamieson’s program has not made the NCAA tournament since 2012 when the Tigers won the conference title in its final year as a Big 12 member.
Alabama outfielder tearing it up
The season is young, but Alabama sophomore outfielder/infielder Casey Hughston leads the league or is near the top in most major hitting categories.
A Mobile, Alabama native, Hughston ranks first amongst SEC batters in batting average (.720), on-base percentage (.724), hits (18), doubles (6) and total bases (29). Hughston is also second in slugging percentage (1.160), runs scored (11) and is third in RBIs (11).