SEC Baseball Power Poll: Week 13 Results

1. Florida (Average: 1.11) (Eight first place votes)

Previous: 1

Overall Record: 35-18, 19-8

Last Week: 0-1 vs. Mercer, 1-2 vs. Vanderbilt

Thoughts on the Gators:

-- Brownout at the plate led to its worst week in a month. Logan Shore is still the truth, though, and one win a Tennessee clinches a share of the SEC.

-- The Gators had a rough time against Vandy, but they're still almost certainly going to win the SEC this weekend

-- The Gators have all but clinched the SEC crown, but that was a dud of a performance last weekend against a hot Vanderbilt team.

-- This team should wrap up its regular season with a series win over Tennessee, and then move on to padding its national seed status next week in the SEC Tourney.

2. Ole Miss (Average: 3.00)

Previous: 2

Overall Record: 38-15, 17-10

Last Week: 2-1 vs. Georgia

Thoughts on the Rebels:

-- Could've really put pressure on Florida, but didn't sweep Georgia.

-- Took care of business again last weekend against Georgia. Can they hold on to win the West? Will Sikes Orvis grow out a postseason mustache? Big questions heading into the final week of the season.

-- A sweep against Georgia could have really given the Rebels a shot at the overall SEC crown, but now they'll have to root for Tennessee and take care of business against A&M on the road.  That's a dangerous spot for them this weekend against a team that has played its best ball against the upper-echelon teams in the league.

3. Vanderbilt (Average: 3.44) (One first place vote)

Previous: 5

Overall Record: 39-14, 16-11

Last Week: 0-1 vs. Louisville, 2-1 vs. Florida

Thoughts on the Commodores:

-- Beat the man, and playing better baseball than Florida over the last two weeks.

-- Suddenly the hottest team in the SEC after taking two out of three from Florida. This could be a dangerous team in the SEC Tournament and NCAAs.

-- This team looked to be in trouble early in the SEC slate, but man have they turned things around.  Nothing proves that more than last weekend's series win over Florida, and the Commodores could further make a statement this weekend with South Carolina coming to town.

4. South Carolina (Average: 3.78)

Previous: 3

Overall Record: 40-13, 16-11

Last Week: 1-0 vs. Wofford, 3-0 vs. Missouri

Thoughts on the Gamecocks:

-- Won their last five ... against Wofford, Missouri, and The Citadel.

-- Beat up on lowly Missouri last weekend. Still a lot to play for this weekend against Vanderbilt. The SEC title may not be at stake after Thursday or Friday, but should be a fun series regardless.

-- Had an easy week last week with Missouri, but finishes with maybe their most difficult series of the year this weekend traveling to Vanderbilt.  Should be fun to watch.

5. LSU (Average: 4.11)

Previous: 4

Overall Record: 37-14, 14-11

Last Week: 1-1 vs. Alabama

Thoughts on the Tigers:

-- Only series-opening loss this year was to Florida. Speaks to Aaron Nola's greatness (and Shore's).

-- The Tigers are unbeatable when Aaron Nola is on the mound, but aren't that dominant when he's on the bench. Not playing the third game against Alabama is a bummer for the Tigers. Have to think the tie earlier in the season against Georgia and last Sunday's cancellation winds up keeping LSU from winning the West.

-- Has it rained every weekend in Baton Rouge this spring?

6. Mississippi State (Average: 6.11)

Previous: 7

Overall Record: 33-19, 16-11

Last Week: 2-1 vs. Tennessee

Thoughts on the Bulldogs:

-- Won five of their last six ... against Auburn and Tennessee.

-- Struck out 36 times and still managed to win the series against Tennessee. YOLO. How the hell are the Bulldogs in a position to possibly win the West at this point?

-- The pitching continues to be what carries this team while the offense, more than 50 games in, tries to figure itself out.  State will need all of the offense it can muster against Alabama and in next week's SEC Tournament if it wants to improve upon its NCAA tournament seeding.

7. Alabama (Average: 6.44)

Previous: 6

Overall Record: 33-19, 14-12

Last Week: 1-0 vs. Jacksonville St., 1-1 vs. LSU

Thoughts on the Crimson Tide:

-- Playing good teams has shuffled the Tide back. Go figure!

-- So it turns out everyone was right about what would happen to Bama once they hit the second half of their schedule

-- If Alabama gets starting pitching like that they did this past weekend, they will be ok. The power surge the team has had this year (38 home runs, after no more than 28 in any of the last four years) can be credited to new strength coach Ben Ashford.

-- Still hasn't proved much in the meat of it's schedule, but could easily wind up second in the West if the Crimson Tide sweeps Mississippi State.

8. Kentucky (Average: 8.78)

Previous: 8

Overall Record: 30-21, 12-15

Last Week: 2-1 vs. Auburn

Thoughts on the Wildcats:

-- Needed extra innings in the rubber game to take two of three from Auburn. The A.J. Reed window is closing, and there isn't talent around him for this team to make a deep run.

-- Kentucky seems to have settled into this spot in the SEC, and I don't see them going up from here anymore this year.  They aren't built for a deep run SEC Tournament or NCAA-wise, unless they plan to unveil the A.J. Reed cloning plan soon.  Not a bad team at all, just not one of the SEC's best like we thought earlier in the year they might be.

9. Arkansas (Average: 9.00)

Previous: 11

Overall Record: 32-21, 13-14

Last Week: 2-1 vs. Texas A&M

Thoughts on the Razorbacks:

-- Perpetually mediocre all season, the Razorbacks can end with a nice SEC record by winning some games against Missouri this weekend.

-- Basically echoing exactly what commenter 1 said, this team has a chance to end the regular season on a nice note with Missouri, and even could get to 16 SEC wins.  Not bad after all of the ups and downs.

10. Texas A&M (Average 10.00)

Previous: 9

Overall Record: 32-21, 13-14

Last Week: 1-2 vs. Arkansas

Thoughts on the Aggies:

-- Somehow the Aggies only win against the top tier of the SEC, so naturally they dropped the series against Arkansas. I like this team's chances to play the spoiler role against Ole Miss this weekend.

-- Echoing the first comment, this team really does seem to only show up against the SEC's best.  The good news there, though, is that for all SEC West teams not named Ole Miss, the Aggies could really play spoiler this weekend against Ole Miss.

11. Tennessee (Average: 10.33)

Previous: 10

Overall Record: 30-20, 11-16

Last Week: 0-1 vs. UNC Asheville, 1-2 vs. Mississippi State

Thoughts on the Volunteers:

-- Fading, but having beaten Vandy and Kentucky, there's hope against Florida.

-- They technically lost the series to Mississippi State, but let's be honest, nobody deserved to win that series. With Florida coming to town, the Vols could very well get knocked out of the SEC Tournament. Remember when this team went 18-2 in their first 20 games? Good times.

-- Speaking as an MSU fan myself, I feel sorry for UT after this past weekend.  They didn't play any worse than State, they just happened to walk in the losing run on Sunday.  One inning was essentially the difference in the series.

12. Georgia (Average: 12.11)

Previous: 12

Overall Record: 25-26, 10-16

Last Week: 1-0 vs. Savanna State, 1-2 vs. Ole Miss

Thoughts on the Bulldogs:

-- Is not Missouri.

-- I tried to find a way to work in a transfer joke here, but I just can't work it out.  Georgia was able to make some noise against Ole Miss and nearly won a series, but they fell just short with a 2-1 loss in the rubber game Sunday.

13. Auburn (Average: 12.78)

Previous: 13

Overall Record: 28-25, 10-17

Last Week: 1-0 vs. Bethune-Cookman, 1-2 vs. Kentucky

Thoughts on the Tigers:

-- Is not Georgia or Missouri.

-- Almost inside of 100 days until the 2014 college football season starts!

14. Missouri (Average: 14.00)

Previous: 14

Overall Record: 20-30, 6-21

Last Week: 0-3 vs. South Carolina

Thoughts on the Tigers:

-- More SEC losses than overall wins.

-- The Tigers have now been swept four weekends in a row. I'm not sure what they did to deserve this. Sorry, Mizzou. There's always next year.