Baseball America projects 11 SEC teams to make NCAA Tournament, 10 Regional hosts

Baseball America projects big things for the SEC when tournament time comes around later this spring.

And why wouldn’t it?

The new Baseball America top 25 poll that was released on Monday featured an astounding 10 SEC teams, headlined by new No. 1 Arkansas. The Hogs are the current toast of college baseball and the cream of the crop in a ridiculously deep SEC, which happens to also feature the defending national champion in Tennessee.

So, what about when the rubber really meets the road in the NCAA Tournament? Baseball America believes a whopping 11 SEC teams will be playing for the national title that the Volunteers currently are defending. And Baseball America also projects that 10 of those 11 SEC teams will be Regional hosts.

Along with powerhouses Arkansas and Tennessee, Baseball America has these other 9 SEC teams heading straight home from the SEC Tournament to host an NCAA Tournament regional: Oklahoma and Texas are slated to host, as are traditional powers Vanderbilt and LSU.

Alabama and Georgia are set to host, too, says Baseball America, as are Auburn and Ole Miss.

Speaking of the Rebels, they had the SEC’s baseball dominance on full display on the very same day that Baseball America’s projection came out. Ole Miss put up a school-record 29 runs in a 29-1 victory over Alcorn State, and this weekend the Rebels will host Tennessee in a showdown that will show off just how good this conference is.

Incidentally, of the 11 SEC teams that Baseball America is projecting to get into the tournament, Kentucky is the only team that isn’t projected to be a Regional host right now. The Wildcats were listed among Baseball America’s Last Four In. Texas A&M, meanwhile, is placed in the Next Four Out group.

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.