Mississippi State’s Baseball Bulldogs were picked second in the SEC Western Division and received the second-most first-place votes overall in the annual preseason Southeastern Conference Coaches’ Baseball Poll announced Wednesday.
The league coaches voted Mississippi State second in the SEC West behind Louisiana State. The Tigers and the Bulldogs also finished 1-2 in the voting for the SEC’s 2003 overall championship. LSU received first place votes from seven of the 12 coaches. Mississippi State received three first place votes while defending SEC champion South Carolina, the near unanimous choice of the coaches to win this year’s SEC Eastern Division race, received two votes for the overall crown.
Points for the poll were compiled on a 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for each division and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. Each coach also voted for one team as an overall conference champion.
The Bulldogs begin preseason team drills Feb. 3 in advance of the season-opening National Bank of Commerce Classic. Coach Ron Polk’s Bulldogs are scheduled to meet Birmingham-Southern and Connecticut in the third annual NBC Classic Feb. 21-23 at Dudy Noble Field.