Gators Ranked High in SEC Preseason Baseball Poll

The 29th annual preseason SEC ranking were released on Thursday, and the Florida Gators were picked to finish second in the SEC.

SEC Ranking

Vanderbilt enters the 2020 NCAA Baseball season ranked number one in the SEC East with 9 votes. Coming off a National Championship, the Commodores look to have yet another strong season and win back to back SEC championships. The Gators are ranked number two in the preseason SEC East rankings. Florida has the second-most first-place votes to Vanderbilt with three. Georgia is then ranked third in the SEC East followed by Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri, then Kentucky.

For the Western Division, Arkansas is ranked in first place with five coaches votes. Not far behind, Mississippi State is ranked second with four coaching votes. Auburn and LSU are tied for third place with three votes followed by Texas A&M, Ole Miss, then Alabama.

To win the overall SEC Tournament, Vanderbilt is the coaches favorite choice receiving eight votes. Florida is the only other team with multiple coaches votes with two to win the SEC.

ALL-SEC Second Team Selection

https://twitter.com/GatorsBB/status/1225500557017845760

Gators star outfielder Jud Fabian was voted by the SEC coaches to the preseason All-SEC Second team. Fabian is coming off a pretty average 2019 season hitting .232 with 26 RBIs and 32 runs. In the field last season, Fabian played nearly perfect with a .993 fielding percentage staring 54 games as a Freshman.

After making an impact last season starting as a true freshman, Fabian looks to have a breakout sophomore season. Fabian is extremely fast and able to cover lots of ground in the outfield, shown through his seven stolen bases.

Last Season

In 2019, the Gators had a pretty disappointing season finishing with a 34-26 record. Florida lost in the first round of the SEC tournament 8-7 in extra innings to Texas A&M. In the NCAA Tournament, the Gators lost in the first round to Dallas Baptist University 11-8. Florida managed to defeat Army 13-5 in their first elimination game to keep their championships hopes alive. Again though, Dallas Baptist University defeated Florida 9-8 sending the Gators packing back to Gainesville.

The Gators look to bounce back in 2020 as they open up their season on February 14 hosting a three-game series against Marshall. The first game is set to start at 6:30 p.m. on February 14th.