The University of Georgia won the Southeastern Conference in football. The University of Kentucky won both the SEC and the SEC Tournament in basketball. Last season South Carolina won the SEC in baseball.
The SEC Eastern Division has ruled supreme in major college athletics during the past year, but this year’s baseball season is attempting to change things.
After four weeks of conference play, not one team in the SEC East has a winning conference record and not one team in the SEC West has a losing conference record.
No. 23 Florida (24-9-1, 5-6-1 SEC) is currently in first place of the East despite being swept by Vanderbilt (16-15, 5-7 SEC) in three games last weekend.
Florida leads the SEC with a team batting average of .327, a number that has decreased dramatically since batting .356 at the start of conference play.
The Gators pitching staff currently ranks ninth in the SEC with a 4.05 ERA. Florida travels to South Carolina this weekend for bragging rights in the East.
South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are tied for second place in the East, each posting a 5-7 SEC record.
The Volunteers swept South Carolina three weeks ago but got swept by Florida the next weekend.
The Gamecocks have lost four of their last five games after dropping two of three at LSU and two games in consecutive midweek games against No. 13 Clemson.
Georgia sits in fifth place in the East and 2-10 in the SEC after beginning conference play with eight straight losses.
The Bulldogs have been getting it done at the plate with a team batting average of .322 but have a league-worse 5.37 ERA.
Coming off an undefeated conference season in basketball, the Kentucky Wildcats are not faring as well in baseball. The Wildcats (13-18, 1-10 SEC) are in last place in the SEC, their lone win came in their last game — an 8-2 victory against the top team in the conference, Mississippi State.
The seventh-ranked Bulldogs (24-5-1, 9-2 SEC) lead the SEC with a stellar 2.45 ERA. The Bulldogs’ pitching staff has allowed five runs or more only five times in 30 games this season.
The Bulldogs are getting it done at the plate as well, posting the fourth-best team batting average in the league, .316.
No. 8 LSU (22-10-1, 9-2-1 SEC) is officially tied in first place with State but is percentage points behind the Bulldogs in the Western Division race.
The Tigers lead the league in nearly all offensive categories in SEC games and have an overall batting average of .305 while ranking second in the league with 41 home runs.
No. 10 Auburn has the hottest hitter in the league in Tug Hulett (.410 batting average) and is in third place of the West with a 9-3 SEC record.
The Tigers took two of three from both Alabama and Clemson and look to close the gap in the West when they travel to Starkville, Miss., this weekend to take on the Bulldogs.
The 25th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks sit in fourth place in the West with a 7-5 record. The Razorbacks began the season with 10-straight wins and have not looked back. They hold a 25-6 overall record, and the sweep they suffered to Mississippi State was their only series loss of the season.
Ole Miss is tied in fourth place with Arkansas heading into its series at LSU this weekend. The Rebels were also swept by Mississippi State but came back the following Wednesday, beating them in a midweek game.
Alabama (23-10, 6-6 SEC) has scored in double digits ten times this season and host Kentucky in a three-game series this weekend. The Tide is in last place of the West but still has a better record than the first place team in the East.