Manfred: “The status of spring training is no change right now”
The SEC released its preseason baseball rankings and All-Conference teams Thursday. The conference’s coaches picked Tennessee to finish fourth in the SEC east and tabbed a pair of Vols to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team.
Tennessee — the defending SEC East champion — came in behind Vanderbilt, Florida and Georgia. While their ranking is low, the Vols 63 votes are closer to Florida’s 77 than fifth-place South Carolina’s 43.
Tennessee outfielders Drew Gilbert and Jordan Beck landed as two of the four outfielders on the Preseason All-Second Team. Ole Miss’ Kevin Graham and Arkansas’ Brady Slovens tied for the third outfield spot on the second team.
Serving as Tennessee’s clean up hitter a season ago, Gilbert hit 10 home runs and 62 RBIs while leading the team with 74 hits. The provocative center fielder provided plenty of highlights including the biggest swing of the last decade of Tennessee baseball.
Welcome to postseason baseball!
DREW GILBERT = HERO#RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/MqEVXrVg8E
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 5, 2021
Beck led Tennessee with 15 home runs and 64 RBIs. Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said Beck’s swing looks the best that it has in Knoxville last week.
Ole Miss led the way with five players on the two teams while Vanderbilt, Arkansas and LSU added three each.
The coach’s picked Arkansas to win the SEC west, Ole Miss and Mississippi State to tie for second followed by LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M and Auburn.
Tennessee opens its 2022 baseball season in eight days when they host Georgia Southern for a three-game series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
