With baseball season being right around the corner, it is time to look at and think about who the cream of the crop in the SEC will potentially be.
Teams like Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina will certainly be up near the top, but for me, it comes down to two teams. The LSU Tigers and the Florida Gators will be the two teams battling it out all year to see who the KING of the SEC is.
Coming off of a National Championship in 2023, LSU will look to maintain their spot as the top dogs in not only the SEC, but in all of college baseball. The Tigers will be led by their returning star, third baseman Tommy White, who we all know is one of the best players in college baseball.
White is coming off of a season in which he hit .368 with 24 homers and an astounding 105 RBIS. With the loss of Dylan Crews, who was the No. 2 pick in the MLB Draft, White becomes the focal point and star of this offense.
This is an LSU lineup that also lost both Tre Morgan and Gavin Dugas but hope to make up for it with the addition of Michael Braswell, a transfer from South Carolina. Combining this lineup with arms like Thatcher Hurd, Nate Ackenhausen, and Gavin Guidry, this Tigers team has the makings for another deep postseason run.
The Gators will look to get back to Omaha for a second consecutive year, after they fell short in the Game 3 championship game against the Tigers. Led by the best player in college baseball, Jac Caglione, the Gators have high hopes for the season. Caglione is coming off a season in which he hit .323 with 33 homers and 95 runs driven in. He also posted a 7-4 record on the mound, with a 4.74 ERA, and 87 strikeouts in a little over 74 innings pitched.
Much like LSU, the Gators lost key pieces of their lineup like Wyatt Langford, BT Riopelle, and Josh Rivera. They also lost two weekend arms in the form of Brandon Sproat and Hurston Waldrep. Florida did add names in the transfer portal like Colby Shelton, Tanner Garrison, and Ashton Wilson to fill the holes in their lineup.
They however did not add many arms in the portal so they will have to rely on young and experienced arms. In saying all that, they still have the best player in the country both at the plate and potentially on the mound. Much like LSU, Florida has all the makings to go deep into Omaha again this season.
The two teams will meet up in a National Championship rematch March 22-24 at "The Box" in Baton Rouge.
