Only the top eight Southeastern Conference baseball teams will earn a spot in the conference championship tournament in Hoover, Ala., in late May, but the road to a title starts now. SEC play starts this weekend for all 12 teams in the conference.LSU won the conference last season, and now teams are gunning for the crown again.  SEC TEAM RANKINGSFive SEC teams, three from the Eastern division and two from the West, earned rankings in the latest Baseball America polls.No. 6 Florida (11-3) is the highest-ranked team and have kept the same ranking for the second week in a row, although the Gators have been ranked as high as No. 5 this season. The Gators lost their first home game this season Sunday when Charleston Southern junior pitcher Tyler Thornburg pitched a complete game. Thornburg struck out 11 batters while only giving up three runs in the 158 pitch outing. “It was a gutsy performance,” said Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan. “He didn’t fold the tent. That’s about as gutsy of a performance as I’ve seen in a long time.”No. 7 LSU (13-2) dropped five spots from No. 2 after losing two of three games to Kansas this weekend. No. 13 Arkansas (12-3) jumped one spot in this week’s rankings after going 5-1 last week. Sunday’s victory for the Razorbacks came in the 10th inning when freshman outfielder Matt Vinson hit his first career walk-off home run against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “I’d never had a home run, single or anything to end a game,” Vinson said. “The crowd was great, but seeing my teammates waiting for me at home plate to celebrate was the best part.”No. 19 Vanderbilt (14-1) made the biggest jump of all teams in the rankings this week after entering last week at No. 24. The Commodores are currently riding a 10-game winning streak. The final SEC team in this week’s rankings is No. 22 Kentucky. The Wildcats stayed put with their ranking after a 4-1 week with games against Evansville and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. LEADING RECORDSVanderbilt has the best nonconference record in the SEC, and it could possibly be attributed to its success on the mound and at the plate. The Commodores bat .352 as a team and also have a team ERA of 2.15.They barely edge out Auburn, who has a team batting average of .350. Alabama has a .334 team batting average and rounds out the top three in the conference.Vanderbilt’s team ERA is .58 runs higher than Arkansas’ ERA, which has a 2.73 team average. Ole Miss rounds out the top three in that statistic with a 3.08 average. Individually, Vanderbilt has a batter who leads the conference in average. Junior catcher Curt Casali has amassed a .486 average in 37 at-bats with 3 home runs and 11 RBIs. Alabama sophomore outfielder Taylor Dugas is No. 2 in the SEC with a .467 average.LSU senior first baseman Blake Dean is No. 3 in the conference with a .424 average. WEEKEND MATCHUPSAlabama will start SEC play this weekend by hosting Vanderbilt for a series, Georgia will host Auburn in their league opener, Missisippi State will travel to play Florida, Ole Miss will travel to Kentucky for their matchup and South Carolina will host Tennessee. LSU will open its conference schedule when it hosts Arkansas this weekend.
 
 
 
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