Arkansas center fielder Andrew Benintendi was named SEC player of the year.
Benintendi led the conference in hitting at .415, which was good for sixth nationally. Kevin Kaczmarski of Evansville hit .478 to lead the nation. Benintendi hit 17 home runs, which led the conference and was fourth in the country (Kyle Martin of Eastern Kentucky and David Thompson of Miami led with 19) and knocked in 51 runs. His slugging percentage of .771 was tops not only in the conference, but also in the country.

Carson Fulmer of Vanderbilt was the pitcher of the year. Fulmer went 11-2 with a 1.51 ERA and 132 strikeouts. He took the triple crown of pitching in the conference with his wins, ERA and K’s. He is the fourth pitcher in SEC history to do so joining Frank Montgomery of Mississippi State (1962), Ken Kurtz of Miss. State (1979) and Luke Hochevar of Tennessee (2005).

LSU freshman pitcher Alex Lange was named freshman of the year. Lange went 10-0 with a 2.11 ERA with 35 walks and 91 ring ups.

Paul Mainieri of LSU was named coach of the year and deservedly so. His team finished off the regular season 46-9 overall and 21-8 in the SEC  and won the regular season conference championship. They are also the number one team in the nation by all college baseball polls.

With that said, I love the way these Bengal Tigers hit the ball. The Hoover Met is usually a pitcher friendly park with deep dimensions to center (405) and in the power alleys (385 to left and right central; 340 to the foul poles), but with this new flat seamed ball instituted in college baseball this year, the hitters have gone off. The flat seamed ball travels 20 feet further than the higher seamed ball that has been used in college baseball up until this year. It’s been huge for college baseball and will make this tournament and the NCAA tournament and CWS a lot more exciting. The Bayou Bengals hit .322 as a team this season, best in the league, they had the best ERA in the conference 2.91, and they are a good defensive team having only committed 52 errors versus their opponents 95. Shortstop Alex Bregman looks like the first pick in the draft in June if it’s not Fulmer. The Arizona Diamondbacks hold the pick. If he’s not picked first, he’ll go second to the Houston Astros. Vandy shortstop Dansby Swanson will also be in that top 2-3 draft mix. Bregman is a slick shortstop who only committed seven errors in 299 chances for a .977 fielding percentage. LSU’s team fielding percentage was .977. Bregman hit .329 with nine homers and 44 RBIs, he led the conference in doubles with 22, and led the conference in stolen bases with 29 out of 38 attempts (76%, pretty good). First baseman Chris Chinea is LSU’s leading hitter at .374 with 11 homers and 53 Ribeyes. Catcher Kade Scivicque hit .363, center fielder Andrew Stevenson hit .360, and third baseman Conner Hale hit .353.

If you can hit, pitch and play defense like that, that’s not only a good remedy for winning the SEC tournament championship, but also the national championship. Texas A&M .313 as a team this year, second best in the conference, and recorded a 3.09 ERA, good for third behind LSU and Vandy (2.94). So I like A&M to make it to Sunday. If Florida wasn’t in the same bracket as LSU, I’d like the Gators to be playing on Sunday instead of A&M, but the Bengal Tigers are the best team in the conference and Florida can’t beat them head to head in my opinion.

Like LSU to take the SEC tournament title, their 12th and third in a row, and to take it from there.

SEC Championship game on  Sunday on ESPN2@ 3:30 PM CT/4:30 PM ET

LSU 5, Texas A&M 3

Note: The SEC Network will have full coverage of the tournament throughout the week starting tomorrow with the 9:30 AM CT Ole  Miss/Alabama game. Bama has a good team, just not sure if they have enough to handle heavyweights LSU, Florida and A&M. The Ole Miss game should be a good game. Auburn plays Kentucky at 4:30 PM CT tomorrow in what should be a good game. The Tigers were having a really good year until being swept by Alabama two weekends ago. Auburn finished the season at 13-17 in the conference and 34-22 overall, while the Crimson Tide finished 12-18 in the conference and 29-26 overall. Auburn won the first game over Florida at Florida this past weekend, which is not bad. Alabama took the final game of their series with Vanderbilt this past weekend. AU and Bama may need to get to the championship game to make the NCAA’s. Maybe winning two will do it for both of them, though I think 3 wins in the tournament would really help.

One final thought:

I’m pretty surprised Rory is not playing in any PGA events until the U.S. Open. He’s playing in some European Tour events before that, but he’s skipping the Memorial Tournament, Jack Nicklaus’s tournament, June 4th-7th. He played in it last year and was a disaster. The tournament commenced just after he broke off his engagement with women’s tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, so maybe this tournament brings back some bad memories for him. Sill think it would be smart of him to play in Jack’s tourney out of respect for Jack first of all,  and for his game as he heads into the Open. I don’t like his chances at the Open now. He might be able, with his talent, to get in the mix, but Jordan Spieth is playing a lot up until the Open and so are a lot of other guys, so Rory is going to have his work cut out for him at Chambers Bay Golf Club in Washington state, June 18-21st. I don’t like his chances at Chambers Bay since he won’t play in any PGA event until then. You gotta play to win. Who knows what Tiger is up to. He;’ll play in the Memorial but that’s about it until the Open. I don’t like his chances at all. He may have used to have gotten away with not playing because he was so talented, but not any more.