
(Photo by Scott Clarke / ESPN Images)
Baseball season is right around the corner and college baseball is even closer as the Vols baseball team will open its season next Friday, February 19th when they head to Statesboro, GA to face the Golden Eagles of Georgia Southern.
On Thursday, the SEC released its coaches poll for the upcoming 2021 season and the Vols were picked to finish in the top half of the East Division in third.
Here’s how both the East and the West shook out:
EAST:
1. Florida (13) – 91
2. Vanderbilt (1) – 79
3. Tennessee – 58
4. South Carolina – 55
5. Georgia – 51
6. Missouri – 28
7. Kentucky – 23
WEST:
1. Ole Miss (7) – 78
2. Mississippi State (3) – 73
3. Arkansas (2) – 72
4. LSU (2) – 63
5. Texas A&M – 36
6. Auburn – 32
7. Alabama – 31
It seems like there could be some amount of parody in the East but the West feels like it’s going to be more top-heavy.
The Preseason All-SEC teams were also named on Thursday in which only one Vol was named and it was the second baseman Max Ferguson who was named to the second team.
The Atlantic Beach, FL native is a junior this season and in the pandemic shortened 2020 season he hit .333 in 13 games with 12 runs scored, six RBI’s, two doubles, and two home runs. He was also named to D1baseball.com and Baseball America’s Preseason All-American First Teams.
Here’s how the SEC first and second teams shook out here for the preseason.
First Team
C: Casey Opitz, Arkansas
1B: T.J. Collett, Kentucky
2B: Robert Moore, Arkansas
3B: Rankin Woley, Auburn
SS: Ryan Bliss, Auburn
OF: Jud Fabian, Florida
OF: Christian Franklin, Arkansas
OF: Tanner Allen, Mississippi State
DH/UTL: Matt Goodheart, Arkansas
SP: Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt
SP: Connor Prielipp, Alabama
RP: Devin Fontenot, LSU
Second Team
C: Hayden Dunhurst, Ole Miss
1B: Josh Hatcher, Mississippi State
2B: Max Ferguson, Tennessee
3B: Tim Elko, Ole Miss
SS: Josh Rivera, Florida
OF: Rowdey Jordan, Mississippi State
OF: Owen Diodati, Alabama
OF: Cade Beloso, LSU
DH/UTL: Wes Clarke, South Carolina
SP: Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt
SP: Tommy Mace, Florida
RP: Ben Specht, Florida
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