SEC Baseball Power Poll: Week Three Results

Week three of the 2014 college baseball season is in the books, and there were a few surprises in the action around the SEC. One team continued its surprising perfect start to the season, several others kept strong starts of their own going as well. There was also plenty of bad in the SEC this weekend, as a few teams see their seasons sinking a bit early on. As always, we've asked our comrades in SEC blogging to rank the SEC 1 through 14 after this week, and here's what we came up with.

1. South Carolina (1.00 avg)

Previous: 1
Overall Record: 10-0
Last Week: 3-0 vs. Clemson
Thoughts on the Gamecocks:

- Just does everything well. Handled a decent Clemson team with ease.

- The Gamecocks trailed, 6-1, going to bat in the fifth against Clemson Friday night. They outscored the Tigers, 23-5, over the next two and a half games to pull off a sweep.

- Carolina was supposed to be tested by Clemson this weekend. Instead, the Gamecocks were dominant and looked close to unbeatable. Currently 10-0 and rolling, USC could very easily open SEC play undefeated and #1 when Ole Miss comes to town March 14th.

- Still undefeated, but finally gave up a few runs in their weekend series with arch-rival Clemson.

- A weekend sweep over Clemson puts the Gamecocks easily at the top of the SEC for now.

2. Vanderbilt (2.80 avg)

Previous: 3
Overall Record: 10-2
Last Week: 3-2 | losses to Western Kentucky and Evansville, swept Stanford
Thoughts on the Commodores:

- Need to hit the ball a bit better, and if they do, look out.

- Vandy suffered its first two losses of the year in the midweek, but the 'Dores rallied with a nice weekend sweep of Stanford.

- Ah yes, Vandy baseball. Dominate and sweep a perennial powerhouse in Stanford, drop surprising midweekers to WKU and Evansville. It's just the black and gold way.

- A couple of bad losses in the midweek, but the 'Dores rebounded nicely to sweep Stanford over the weekend.

3. LSU (3.00 avg)

Previous: 2
Overall Record: 9-2
Last Week: 2-2 | loss to UL-Lafayette, 2-1 vs. Yale
Thoughts on the Tigers:

- The Tigahs dropped their first two losses of the year, too. Although, the midweek defeat to ranked Louisiana-Lafayette, in a game called due to weather in the sixth, isn't so bad.

- The Tigers lost to Yale. Not a bad loss just a disappointing way to end a week that started with a rain shortened upset by ULL.

- The Tigahs lost to Yale this weekend. Blip on the radar until proven otherwise.

- Don't expect LSU to lose twice in one week very often. The blown lead against Yale is surprising, but the Tigers still look like the second-best team in the SEC so far.

4. Ole Miss (5.00 avg)

Previous: 7
Overall Record: 11-1
Last Week: 5-0 | 2-0 vs. UL-Monroe, swept Central Florida
Thoughts on the Rebels:

- The Rebels certainly proved their ability to win close games in the last week, taking four of the one-run variety. Two of those were extra-innings victories.

- Probably the hottest team in the SEC right now. 5 straight walk off wins is nothing to scoff at. At some point that luck will run out but until then? Fly High, Rebs.

5. Tennessee (5.30 avg)

Previous: 6
Overall Record: 10-0
Last Week: 3-0 | swept Quinnipiac
Thoughts on the Volunteers:

- Surprise of the SEC so far, but played a very weak schedule.

- The Vols are still unbeaten and still mashing the ball, averaging 8.7 runs per game over the weekend. This team is starting to feel a little like 2011 Kentucky: an offensive power that makes a regional run out of nowhere.

- Welcome to the surprise of the league right now. Undefeated and gritting their teeth for a road series against Arizona State. The Vols are in good shape and a win in the desert could mean a Top 25 ranking and faith restored on Rocky Top.

- Biggest surprise of the SEC in the early going. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep it up as we approach conference play.

- The Volunteers are the biggest surprise so far this season, starting the year off 10-0, albeit against not the strongest schedule.

6. Mississippi State (6.00 avg)

Previous: 9
Overall Record: 10-4
Last Week: 6-0 | 2-0 vs. Mount Saint Mary's, Eastern Illinois, Michigan State
Thoughts on the Bulldogs:

- It wasn't against great competition (Mount St. Mary's, Michigan State, Eastern Illinois), but the Bulldogs put up a perfect week and outscored opponents, 47-8.

- The upset by Holy Cross is in the rearview and the Dogs responded well with a 6 game winning steak.

- The Dawgs went 6-0 this week, with a couple of wins over Michigan State who had been a pleasant surprise in the early part of the season. Seth Heck has emerged as MSU's starting SS and solidified the defense. Pitching continued to be a strong suit, coupled with some timely hitting.

- Things are looking up for the Bulldogs after they won six games this week. They may finally have the kinks worked out after a slow start to the season.

7. Kentucky (6.90 avg)

Previous: 10
Overall Record: 9-2
Last Week: 4-0 | win vs. Wright State, swept Eastern Michigan
Thoughts on the Wildcats:

- Hitting the ball extremely well. A.J. Reed is taking everybody deep. Not a great defensive team, though.

- The 'Cats have won seven in a row by an average score of 10-2. If the pitching can hold up during SEC play, Kentucky could be dangerous.

- UK can hit. They have power. However, I'm interested to see if that actually holds up this year.

8. Arkansas (7.00 avg)

Previous: 4
Overall Record: 7-2
Last Week: 1-2 vs. South Alabama
Thoughts on the Razorbacks:

- Remember when we said the Razorbacks were about to show who they are? Arkansas didn't start well, dropping two of three to South Alabama.

- I don't know how you lose, twice, at home. To a barely .500 South Alabama team that's lost to New Orleans, Alabama State, and dropped a series to Tennessee Tech. It's really headscratching.

9. Texas A&M (9.10 avg)

Previous: 5
Overall Record: 7-4
Last Week: 1-3 | beat Houston Baptist, swept by Fresno State
Thoughts on the Aggies:

- A&M left Blue Bell Park for the first time this season and came home with three losses to Fresno State. That's a bit troubling after the Aggies went 6-14 on the road last season.

- A bit of a mystery right now. The Aggies got swept by a pretty solid Fresno State club, but were rolling at a pretty solid clip before that.

10. Florida (9.70 avg)

Previous: 8
Overall Record: 6-6
Last Week: 1-3 | 1-1 vs. Florida Gulf Coast, 0-2 vs. Illinois
Thoughts on the Gators:

- What's going on with the Gators? I thought they'd be better than this.

- When you go 1-3 and drop two games to a B1G team (Illinois), you don't get to maintain your ranking from the previous week.

- You want a team trending in the wrong direction? Just take a look in Gainesville. UF lost to Illinois (twice) and Florida Gulf Coast over the weekend. The Reptiles were only able to muster 2 runs in their 3 losses. Is this just the normal slow start from UF or is a sign of a sinking ship? The UCONN series and Southern Miss midweeker will be a big barometer.

- Give the Gators credit for playing a strong non-conference schedule, but they're struggling so far in 2014. Two home losses to Illinois over the hurt weekend hurt.

11. Alabama (10.70 avg)

Previous: 11
Overall Record: 5-5
Last Week: 1-3 | loss vs. Southern Miss, 1-2 vs. UL-Lafayette
Thoughts on the Tide:

- How rough is the bottom of the conference right now? Alabama went 1-3 and moved up a spot. The only silver lining for the Tide was the weekend series loss came against UL-Lafayette, a legit top-10 team.

- The Tide definitely has some Friday Night woes and the 2-0 shutout by ULL didn't help. However, the Tide responded with their best win of the season on Sunday: a 12-6 throttling of the ranked Cajuns.

- In an opportunity for a really good non-conference showing, the Crimson Tide dropped two against Louisiana-Lafayette.

- Pitching has been really good, bats are behind, picked up on Sunday with 21 hits and 12 runs vs 10th ranked ULL, Have lost 2-1 three times, and 2-0 and 6-0 games early in the year.

12. Auburn (12.30 avg)

Previous: 13
Overall Record: 6-5
Last Week: 3-1 | won vs. Alabama A&M, 2-1 vs. Presbyterian
Thoughts on the Tigers:

- The Tigers could have gone into a tailspin after a Friday night loss to Presbyterian. Instead they bounced back to win the series thanks to great pitching from Keegan Thompson in Game 2 and an offensive breakout in Game 3. Auburn has a long way to go, but at least it's showing some fight.

- The Tigers showed life this weekend and responded with dominant pitching on Saturday and an offensive barrage on Sunday. It's a positive step forward but not enough to crack the Top 10 in the league just yet.

13. Georgia (12.90 avg)

Previous: 14
Overall Record: 5-6
Last Week: 5-1 | win vs. Furman, loss vs. Georgia State, swept Binghampton
Thoughts on the Bulldogs:

- Don't look now, but the Dawgs have won four out of five! Of course, that loss came to mighty Georgia State, a team that just lost two of three to something called Northern Kentucky.

- Good news! UGA has a winning streak! Bad News? The cupcakes leading up to Mississippi State may give a false sense of accomplishment before SEC play.

- Really, there's no excuse for Jawja to be so bad with a state so talent rich in baseball.

14. Missouri (13.30 avg)

Previous: 12
Overall Record: 4-6
Last Week: 1-3 | loss vs. Liberty, Campbell, and IPFW, win vs. UIC
Thoughts on the Tigers:

- Woof. Mizzou managed to snap a five-game skid with a 4-0 win over Illinois-Chicago on Saturday, but after losses to Liberty, Campbell and IPFW, that was probably little consolation.

- Mizzou schedules the absolute worst of an SEC Team. They've been plagued by 7 cancellations and took an ugly loss to IUPUFW. Woof.

- It's going to be a LONG season in Columbia, MO.

Those are our rankings for the week. Did we get it right? Way off? Who is too high, or too low? Let us know in the comments, and debate away as SEC baseball season moves right in to week four.