Baseball in the SEC The Southeastern Conference
Setting the Standard for Intercollegiate Athletics The Southeastern Conference, with its storied 77-year history of athletic achievements and academic excellence, has built perhaps the greatest tradition of intercollegiate competition in baseball of any league in the country since its inception in 1933. The SEC posted another tremendous season in 2010 as the conference had eight teams earn selection to NCAA postseason play with South Carolina and Florida advancing to the College World Series. A SEC squad has now appeared in the College World Series 25 of the last 26 years. South Carolina advanced to and won the National Championship Series, marking the sixth time since 2000 an SEC team played for the national championship in Omaha and third in a row. LSU won the SEC tournament title over Alabama. Florida won the SEC regularseason title with a 22-8 conference record, while Auburn won the Western Division with a 20-10 record. The Southeastern Conference boasts 11 former National Players of the Year (Vanderbilt’s David Price won in 2007), 10 Baseball America Coach of the Year and nine Collegiate Baseball Coach of the Year honors. Also, 143 student-athletes have been named first-team All-American, four of which came in 2010. Three SEC players were taken in the first round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, held Tuesday in New York City, including the fifth pick overall. Ole Miss’ Drew Pomeranz was picked fifth by the Cleveland Indians. Zack Cox of Arkansas was selected 25th by the St. Louis Cardinals, while LSU’s Anthony Ranaudo was 39th by the Boston Red Sox. With those three selections this year, the SEC has now had a first round selection in each year since 1991 and 83 total in the first round during that time. The SEC drew a record of nearly two million fans to its on-campus ballparks in 2010, the fifth year in a row to draw over 1.6 million. Eight SEC teams drew in excess of 100,000 fans to their parks in 2010. The SEC averaged a record 4,867 fans per game in 2010, the fourth straight year to exceed the 4,000 mark. South Carolina and LSU (the last two national champions) both opened new parks in 2009, while Ole Miss’ recent expansion took capacity over 10,000. Four teams, all in the SEC West, can now house crowds of over 10,000. The SEC Baseball Tournament drew a new record-high 126,071 fans in 2010, despite lengthy rain and lightning delays on three of the five days of the event. A new average per game attendance of 9,698 was also established at this year’s tournament. The SEC Championship Game, broadcast nationally on EPSN2 for the first time, drew 13,327 fans. Associate Director of Media Relations Chuck Dunlap is in his ninth year working as the baseball contact at the SEC. The 1999 graduate of Mississippi State also serves as the media contact for gymnastics and football (secondary). A native of Louisville, Miss., Dunlap is married to the former Amber Chrisman. Chuck Dunlap
SEC Media Relations Contacts
Phone Number......................................................................................................(205) 458-3010 Fax Number............................................................................................................(205) 458-3030 Mailing Address...........2201 Richard Arrington Blvd. North Birmingham, AL 35203 Charles Bloom, Assoc. Commissioner....................................................... cbloom@sec.org Chuck Dunlap, Assoc. Director (Baseball Contact)............................. cdunlap@sec.org
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The Best of the Best on the College Baseball Landscape • The SEC has sent 40 teams to the College World Series since 1990. That was accomplished despite no SEC teams making the field in 1992. LSU has been to Omaha 12 times, Georgia and Florida five times, Mississippi State and South Carolina four times, while Alabama and Tennessee have been three times each. Auburn has been twice, while Arkansas advanced in 2004 and 2009. • SEC teams have won eight of the last 21 national championships, with LSU winning six (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009), South Carolina winning one (2010) and Georgia claiming the 1990 title. The SEC has finished runner up four times in that time, 1997, 2002, 2005 and 2008. • SEC teams are 79-69 since 1990 in Omaha, a 53.4 winning percentage. Not counting games against each other, the SEC has a 62-53 record in the CWS since 1990, a 56.5 winning percentage. • The SEC has played 35 games in the “Final Four” of the College World Series since 1990, an average of over 1.5 per year. Only five times, 1992,1994, 2003, 2006 and 2007 has the SEC failed to get a team to the “Final Four” of the CWS. • The SEC has averaged nearly eight games played per year in the College World Series since 1990. In 2004, 12 of the 15 games played in Omaha involved a SEC team. In 1997, the SEC had a team in 13 of the 14 games played in the CWS. Since 1990, an SEC team has played in 131 of the 301 games in the College World Series, an amazing 43.5 percent of games. • The SEC has sent nine of its 12 schools to the College World Series since 1990 - Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee. Ole Miss has played in three Super Regional finals the last six seasons, while Vanderbilt was one Super Regional win away from Omaha in 2010. • Since 1990, 138 SEC squads have been invited to the NCAA Tournament, an average nearly seven per season. The SEC set yet another NCAA record in 2004, 2005 and 2008 with nine teams earning postseason births. The SEC also had a NCAA-record five teams earn regional host sites in 2004 and 2006. • The SEC has had an NCAA-high 10 different teams compete in the 57-year history of the College World Series. In those appearances, the conference has registered a 101-108 record, a 48.3 winning percentage. • Since 1990, 25 SEC squads have posted 50+ wins, while 103 have won 40+ games in a season, including seven in 2010. • The SEC posted a 260-92 record against non-conference foes in 2010, a 73.9 winning percentage. Since 1990, the SEC has accumulated a 5058-19164 record against non-conference teams, a 72.5 winning percentage. • SEC teams have also been strong in the polls. Since 1990, 99 conference teams have appeared in the final Baseball America poll, 110 in the final Collegiate Baseball poll and, since 1992, 100 in the final ESPN Coaches poll. Eight SEC squads appeared in the Top 25 of at least one of the final polls in 2010.
SEC Web Site
The SEC has an extensive presence on the World Wide Web at www.SecSports. com. The SEC offers a media-only section of the website - www.secsportsmedia. com. Media covering the SEC can retrieve information from the conference office as well as the 12 SEC institutions from the media site. An Internet photo gallery and championship credentialing system also is available on the site.
Weekly Awards
The SEC office will name a Player of the Week, Pitcher of the Week and Freshman of the Week in baseball each Monday of the season. Each week’s selections will be released for Monday afternoon publication and also will be announced in the league’s weekly releases. Nominations for the award are made each week by the league’s baseball media relations contacts.