Alabama tops coaches poll, Auburn No. 23

The preseason estimation of the coaches in the USA Today poll is out and there were not many surprises at the top Alabama got 55 of the 59 first-place votes but only 77 more total points than No. 2 Ohio State.

Just a reminder: Nick Saban is a voter in the poll and he previously said he didn’t think Alabama should be voted the preseason No. 1. So, we might have an idea where one of the four Ohio State votes originated.

Overall, there are six SEC schools in the top 25 and five of Alabama’s opponents on the list.

Rank; Team (first-place votes); 2009 record; Points; Final 2009 rank
1. Alabama (55); 14-0; 1,469; 1
2. Ohio State (4); 11-2; 1,392; 5
3. Florida; 13-1; 1,245; 3
4. Texas; 13-1; 1,240; 2
5. Boise State; 14-0; 1,215; 4
6. Virginia Tech; 10-3; 1,052; 10
7. TCU; 12-1; 1,051; 6
8. Oklahoma; 8-5; 1,035; NR
9. Nebraska; 10-4; 1,001; 14
10. Iowa; 11-2; 952; 7
11. Oregon; 10-3; 940; 11
12. Wisconsin; 10-3; 778; 16
13. Miami (Fla.); 9-4; 728; 19
14. Penn State; 11-2; 508; 8
15. Pittsburgh; 10-3; 492; 15
16. LSU; 9-4; 476; 17
17. Georgia Tech; 11-3; 455; 13
18. North Carolina; 8-5; 445; NR
19. Arkansas; 8-5; 438; NR
20. Florida State; 7-6; 374; NR
21. Georgia; 8-5; 312; NR
22. Oregon State; 8-5; 263; NR
23. Auburn; 8-5; 260; NR
24t. Utah; 10-3; 169; 18
24t. West Virginia; 9-4; 169; 22
—
Others receiving votes

Cincinnati (12-1) 135; Houston (10-4) 76; Brigham Young (11-2) 66; Arizona (8-5) 65; Ole Miss(9-4) 48; Clemson (9-5) 44; Stanford (8-5) 41; Connecticut (8-5) 40; Notre Dame (6-6) 38; South Carolina (7-6) 38; Washington (5-7) 26; Missouri (8-5) 23; Navy (10-4) 12; Oklahoma State (9-4) 11; Boston College (8-5) 10; Michigan State (6-7) 10; Arizona State (4-8) 6; California (8-5) 6; Texas Tech (9-4) 5; South Florida (8-5) 4; Texas A&M (6-7) 3; Northwestern (8-5) 2; Temple (9-4) 2; Central Michigan (12-2) 1; Mississippi State (5-7) 1; Nevada (8-5) 1; Northern Illinois (7-6) 1; Southern Methodist (8-5) 1.

Finally! A new poll question

After allowing the last poll question to fester on the blog for well over a month, I present a new one with an added feature. Feel free to leave comments on this new one if the mood strikes you.

Enjoy, but play nice.

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What’s at stake tonight?

Quite a bit, actually.

Not only the Atlanta Regional is on the line tonight, but a potentially huge super regional showdown is possible with a Crimson Tide win. Should Alabama beat Georgia Tech for a second straight night, it’ll have a shot at playing another Iron Bowl in the super regional.

That’s right, an Auburn win over Clemson paired with a Tide upset would put two of the biggest rivals outside of Coke and Pepsi in the best-of-three super regional.

There’s no need to get ahead of ourselves just yet, but just imagine the possibility. Alabama vs. Auburn for a spot in the College World Series would make for an interesting week, wouldn’t it?

Welcome back to Hoover

We’re about 30 minutes from first pitch between Alabama and Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC baseball tournament in Hoover. Quite a bit is at stake.

An Alabama loss would set up a rematch with Auburn at 3 p.m. Friday after the Tide thumped the Tigers 7-1 on Wednesday. Auburn finished off South Carolina 3-1 in 12 innings earlier today.

Check back later for updates.

Storm clouds on horizon for favorites at SEC tournament

 Photo by me

Lower seeds have certainly ruled the opening day of the SEC baseball tournament.

Of the three games already in the books, no favorites have succeeded. Seventh-seeded Alabama’s 7-1 beating of Auburn was followed by sixth-seeded Ole Miss’ win over No. 3 South Carolina.

The defending national champs, but No. 8 seed LSU just knocked off regular-season champion Florida in a spirited Game 3. Those LSU fans love them some LSU.

It’s now up to Arkansas, the four-seed, to keep it from being a white wash in the night cap against No. 5 Vanderbilt.

On a side note, let me say I’m not happy with the speed with which today’s action has been played. I didn’t leave Regions Park before 2:45 a.m. after covering Alabama in the last game of Day 1 last year. Mad maybe isn’t the word. More like bitter.

UPDATE: Vanderbilt completes the underdog sweep, 2-0 in the nightcap.

VIDEO: Final out of Alabama baseball win over Auburn

Baseball Iron Bowl: SEC baseball style

Final: Alabama 7, Auburn 1: The Tide advances to Thursday’s 4:30 p.m. quarterfinal to meet either Ole Miss or South Carolina. This was surprising both in score and outcome as Auburn came in hotter than any team in the tournament and the West Division champions.

Middle ninth: A bases-loaded walk scored Brock Bennett and a David Kindred single added two more to leave the stunned Auburn crowd trailing 7-1 heading into the final at-bats.

End eighth: Auburn leaves runner at second as Alabama holds 4-1 lead heading into the final frame.

Middle eighth: Clay Jones doubled to right and Jake Smith did the same to left to make the score 4-1 Alabama.

End seventh: A strike out ended the inning one pitch after Bennett nailed Casey McElroy trying to steal second. Alabama fans are excited.

Middle seventh: A Taylor Dugas triple off the right field wall fooled the outfielder and scored Brock Bennett from second. It’s now 3-1 Alabama with “Take me out to the ball game” playing.

End sixth: Auburn strands a runner after a two-out error to keep the score 2-1 Alabama with three innings remaining. Shortstop Josh Rutledge fired up the Bama crowd with leaping catch on a well-hit line drive.

Middle sixth: Two strike outs, no hits as Alabama goes down in order. 2-1 Tide remains your score.

End fifth: Still 2-1 Alabama after a 1-2-3 fifth inning. Pitcher Jimmy Nelson has limited the SEC’s best hitting team to three hits through five and struck out four. The game is moving right along, not sure if it has anything to do with the pitch clock, but it’s worth noting.

Middle fifth: Taylor Dugas led off with a bunt single that extended his streak to 45 straight games in which he’s reached base. A double play took him back off the bases and a Ross Wilson fly out ended the half inning with Alabama still leading 2-1.

End fourth: Still 2-1 Tide after Tigers posted no hit. no runs, no one left on base. Word is traffic still snarled on roads leading into Regions Park.

Middle fourth: Alabama takes a 2-1 lead after Andrew Miller made up for his previous strike out with a 2-run single through the right side with the bases loaded. Auburn has some movement in its bullpen.

End third: Auburn takes a 1-0 lead after Dan Gamache’s double, a sacrifice bunt and squeeze scored him from third. Crowd has energy, more so on the Auburn side at this point.

Finally made it to the game. It’s 0-0 going to the bottom of the second after Alabama’s Andrew Miller struck out with runners on second and third in the top half of the inning.

Here is a look at the crowd, first with the Auburn side, followed by the Alabama side.

All-SEC baseball teams announced

We are less than 24 hours from the highly-anticipated SEC tournament opener between Auburn and Alabama at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and the league has announced its top performers of the regular season.

A quick check of the ticketing website reveals general admission tickets remain for the two-game first session that also includes South Carolina/Ole Miss. And now, the all-conference teams:

SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Hunter Morris, Auburn
SEC PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Drew Pomeranz, Ole Miss
SEC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Austin Maddox, Florida
SEC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Cory Luckie, Auburn
SEC COACH OF THE YEAR
Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida

FIRST TEAM
1B – Hunter Morris, Auburn
2B – Anthony Gomez, Vanderbilt
3B – Zack Cox, Arkansas
SS – Josh Rutledge, Alabama
C – Micah Gibbs, LSU
OF – Taylor Dugas, Alabama
OF – Trent Mummey, Auburn
OF – Brian Fletcher, Auburn
DH – Kevin Patterson, Auburn
P – Blake Cooper, South Carolina
P – Drew Pomeranz, Ole Miss
RP – Kevin Chapman, Florida

SECOND TEAM
1B – Preston Tucker, Florida
2B – Chris Bisson, Kentucky
3B – Austin Maddox, Florida
SS – Austin Nola, LSU
SS – Nolan Fontana, Florida
C – Ryan Jenkins, Auburn
OF – Matt den Dekker, Florida
OF – Brett Eibner, Arkansas
OF – Jackie Bradley Jr., South Carolina
DH – Matt Gaudet, LSU
P – Drew Smyly, Arkansas
P – Grant Dayton, Auburn
P – Sonny Gray, Vanderbilt
RP – Matt Price, South Carolina
RP – Brett Huber, Ole Miss

ALL FRESHMAN TEAM
1B – Christian Walker, South Carolina
2B – Anthony Gomez, Vanderbilt
3B – Austin Maddox, Florida
SS – Nolan Fontana, Florida
C – Mike Zunino, Florida
OF – Andrew Miller, Alabama
OF – Evan Marzilli, South Carolina
OF – Chris Fritts, Tennessee
OF – Connor Harrell, Vanderbilt
DH – Brian Johnson, Florida
P – Hudson Randall, Florida
P – Brian Johnson, Florida
P – Chris Stratton, Mississippi State
RP – Brett Huber, Ole Miss
RP – Matt Price, South Carolina

ALL DEFENSIVE TEAM
P – Sonny Gray, Vanderbilt
1B – Preston Tucker, Florida
2B – Scott Wingo, South Carolina
SS – Nolan Fontana, Florida
3B – Jake Smith, Alabama
C – Micah Gibbs, LSU
OF – Matt den Dekker, Florida
OF – Trent Mummey, Auburn
OF – Jackie Bradley Jr., South Carolina

Tickets remain for Bama/Auburn baseball in SEC

The reserved seats are all sold, but general admission tickets remain for Alabama’s first-round showdown with Auburn in the SEC baseball tournament. I just checked, and two general admission tickets for the 9:30 a.m. Wednesday game will set you back $27.50 with the handling fees on top.

I’ll be writing a little bit more about this before the game, but it should be an interesting game with all the story lines attached. It’s Auburn’s first SEC tournament in seven years and Alabama is playing about as well as anyone heading into the event.

Check back later for more.

Tide vs. Auburn in SEC baseball opener

The biggest crowd of next week’s SEC baseball tournament will likely come in its first game.

LSU’s loss to Mississippi State coupled with Alabama’s win over Tennessee gave the Tide the seventh seed and a date with Auburn at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Hoover.

Auburn has the No. 2 seed after winning the West Division. Read more about this Sunday.

And now, the Bama Blog’s pick for YouTube video of the day.

VIDEO: Rammer Jammer after Auburn win

Here’s a quick look at the Rammer Jammer after the Alabama basketball victory over Auburn on Saturday:

VIDEO: Saban accepts Iron Bowl Trophy

From halftime of the Auburn basketball game:

Live from Tuscaloosa, it’s Alabama basketball

Follow all the action from today’s Iron Bowl of basketball. You just can’t do it here.

Check out the Bama Blog’s twitter for all the updates.

VIDEO: Closing seconds of Auburn loss

A few seconds earlier …

Alabama at Auburn live updates

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