The SEC is Back On Top of the Baseball World

For the third time in five years, a team from the Southeastern Conference has taken home college baseball’s greatest team achievement. Vanderbilt showed up to face the University of Virginia, who was heavily favored. As they have done all season long, Vanderbilt found a way to win the best-of-three series in dramatic fashion, bringing the College World Series trophy back to the SEC.

Center fielder John Norwood hit a tie-breaking home run in the 8th inning to give Vanderbilt a 3-2 lead over the Cavaliers, a lead they would hold on to.

The 2014 season ended with five SEC teams in the USA Today Top 25, including Vanderbilt (1), Ole Miss (4), LSU (16), South Carolina (22) and Florida (24). The SEC also had a record 10 teams invited to participate in post-season play. The five teams listed above were joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Texas A&M.

This upset win marks a third baseball National Championship in five years for the conference, the other two belonging to the University of South Carolina in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011. (The Gamecocks lost to Arizona in the championship series of the 2012 CWS). In the past six years, an SEC team has been in the championship series of the CWS.

Across the conference, pitching was dominant this season, with South Carolina ranking 4th in the nation in team ERA (2.15), and Arkansas ranking 2nd in the nation in hits per nine innings (6.47). Tailing Arkansas in the hits per nine innings category, Vanderbilt finished 3rd, LSU 5th, South Carolina 9th and Alabama 11th.

Ole Miss and Kentucky also ranked in the Top-25 in batting average.

The SEC had six baseball players make the Team USA college national team.

To provide more perspective on how the SEC has done in all sports, the conference has won a championship in at least one of the “major three” sports (basketball, baseball and football) in each of the past nine years:

2013-2014: Vanderbilt (baseball)

2012-2013: Alabama (football)

2011-2012: Alabama (football), Kentucky (basketball)

2010-2011: Auburn (football), South Carolina (baseball)

2009-2010: Alabama (football), South Carolina (baseball)

2008-2009: Florida (football), LSU (baseball)

2007-2008: LSU (football)

2006-2007: Florida (football), Florida (basketball)

2005-2006: Florida (basketball)

Baseball’s power conference racked up on postseason awards this year. The SEC finished the season with four All-Americans, including Aaron Nola (LSU), Jacob Lindgren (Mississippi State), Austin Bousefield (Ole Miss) and A.J. Reed (Kentucky). That wasn’t the only hardware Reed took home at season’s end, as he also won the Dick Howser Trophy, baseball’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, the Baseball America College Player of the Year, the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Player of the Year, the Louisville Slugger Player of the Year and the American Baseball Coaches Association Player of the Year. Reed is also a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, as is LSU pitcher Aaron Nola. Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin was named the Collegiate Baseball Coach of the Year.

Things are also looking bright for SEC baseball in 2015. The season is a long way off, but three of the eight spots in Omaha are projected to go to SEC teams, according to BaseballAmerica.com. Two more are projected to host a Super Regional (round of 16).

 

 

Looking at TCU’s Brandon Finnegan’s Performance vs. Virginia
Looking at TCU’s Brandon Finnegan’s Performance vs. Virginia