After two months of college baseball and five weeks into SEC conference play, the accuracy of the 2026 preseason Top 25 has faltered some. After the Southeastern Conference had a record 13 teams make the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the conference had 11 teams in the preseason top 25 rankings, according to D1 Baseball.
Reigning national champion LSU was among the top teams, with programs like Texas, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Georgia. Now halfway through the season, the SEC has seen programs rise and fall throughout a conference where success is never a guarantee.
Notable clubs in conference after five weeks
After making the postseason in 2025, Georgia has climbed to the top of the conference after four straight series wins, including two sweeps against South Carolina and Mississippi State. However, over the weekend, the No. 4 Bulldogs were upset by Florida at home in Athens for their first series loss of the season.
Just before the Bulldogs swept South Carolina at the end of March, Georgia head coach Wes Johnson discussed the idea of consistency around the conference.
“It’s more about the consistency, right?” Johnson said. “Just look at what’s going on in our league. The parody in college baseball is probably higher than it’s been in a long time.”
Following closely behind Georgia is Texas and Texas A&M, who were ranked third and 25th in the preseason poll. The two in-state rivals squared up over the weekend in College Station, with the Aggies earning the upset win 2-0 against the then-ranked No. 2 Longhorns.
The third game of the series was cancelled due to weather, but the Aggie offense was led by junior first baseman Gavin Grahovac and junior outfielder Caden Sorrell. Grahovac went 5-9 with five RBIs, two doubles and two triples. Sorrell followed with a 4-10 performance, including five RBIs, one double, a home run and three runs scored.
Mississippi State is coming off of two back-to-back series losses against Georgia and Tennessee. The Bulldogs are top five in the SEC in both batting average (.266) and ERA (4.09) and will travel to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks from April 17-19.
Other teams in the middle of the pack with series wins over the weekend include Auburn, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Arkansas. The Tigers took the series against Kentucky at home, marking the Wildcats' second straight series loss. Ole Miss and Arkansas both swept their opponents to move to 8-7 in conference play.
Reigning national champions among bottom of barrel
The Tigers have found recent struggles in 2026 after coming off of their second national title in three years. Coming into the season ranked No. 2, LSU dropped midweek games to McNeese, Northeastern, UL-Lafayette and a series to Sacramento State. Additionally, the Tigers have dropped three series against Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Ole Miss to open up SEC play.
"We haven't won in a week, so that's enough for me," LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. "I don't know anything about standings or RPI or any of that, but we need to win a game."
The Tennessee Volunteers have found struggles in 2026 under new head coach Josh Elander, who took over for former coach Tony Vitello when he became the San Francisco Giants' manager after the 2025 season. Sitting in 12th place in the SEC, the Volunteers have dropped three series against Georgia, LSU and Vanderbilt. Tennessee is 13th in the conference in overall batting average with .268 and seventh in slugging percentage with .478.
Similar to last season, inconsistency has been an issue for South Carolina. After interim head coach Monte Lee took over the program on March 21, the Gamecocks finally found their first conference series win of the season against Missouri over the weekend. Despite coming off of a series upset on April 5 against a top 25 Kentucky team, the 0-3 weekend for Missouri moved the Tigers into dead last in the conference.
The Gamecocks' pitching staff was the game changer over the weekend against the Tigers, with junior pitchers Brandon Stone and Amp Phillips leading the way with a combined 14 innings of work, 17 strikeouts and one earned run.
“I was really proud of the guys and the way we played,” Lee said. “It’s great to get a sweep on the road and hopefully get some great momentum going into next week.”