As the Southeastern Conference begins the first weekend of May baseball, one thing is evident. The SEC West is dominating the East.
The last place team of the West, Arkansas (31-12, 11-10 SEC), leads the first place team of the East, Florida (31-13-1,10-10-1 SEC), by a half-game in SEC play.
When you compare the two division cellar dwellers, the Eastern division’s struggles are obvious.
Arkansas holds a .524 conference winning percentage while Georgia (23-22, 5-16 SEC) is well below .500, only winning 23 percent of its SEC games.
Looking at the entire divisions, the stats show the Western division wins 60 percent of its conference games while the Eastern division only succeeds in 39 percent of its SEC contests.
LSU (31-14-1,15-5-1 SEC) heads into this weekend’s series at Mississippi State (31-12-1, 12-8 SEC) with a two-and-a-half game lead in the SEC West and overall conference race.
The second place Auburn Tigers (32-13, 13-8 SEC) need to beat visiting Florida (31-13-1, 10-10-1 SEC) to gain ground on LSU.
Auburn is coming off two consecutive series losses but may fair better against the visiting Eastern leaders who have not played well on the road, only winning two of their 11 road games this season.
Alabama (31-14, 12-9) and Ole Miss (28-19,12-9) are tied for third place in the West sitting three-and-a-half games out of first.
Alabama swept Arkansas last weekend in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and faces off against the reeling Tennessee Volunteers (25-20, 8-13 SEC), who have lost four straight and are sitting in fourth place of the East.
Ole Miss travels to last place Arkansas.
South Carolina (29-17, 10-11 SEC) and Vanderbilt (22-20, 10-11 SEC) are both nipping at Florida’s heals only a half-game out of the lead.
The Gamecocks fell behind Florida by losing two at Ole Miss last weekend.
Fifth place Kentucky (19-25, 6-14 SEC) will be traveling to Columbia, S.C., to take on the Gamecocks.
Kentucky has won six of their last 10 SEC games after a 0-10 conference start.
Vanderbilt travels to Athens, Ga., hoping to defeat the SEC last place Bulldogs and aid its efforts of earning its first spot in the SEC Tournament since 1996.