BATON ROUGE – The LSU and Florida baseball teams were voted to win the 2017 Southeastern Conference baseball championship based on the annual league coaches preseason poll released on Thursday.

The teams are voted on by the league's 14 head coaches. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.

Florida and LSU each received six votes. The Gators are predicted to win the SEC Eastern Division and the Tigers are predicted to win the SEC Western Division. Nine of the 14 schools were represented on the All-SEC teams with Florida leading the way with six total selections. LSU and Vanderbilt received four votes, while Mississippi State and South Carolina had two.

Five LSU players were named to the coaches preseason all-SEC squad, including senior second baseman Cole Freeman, sophomore outfielder Antoine Duplantis, senior shortstop Kramer Robertson, junior outfielder Greg Deichmann and junior pitcher Alex Lange. Freeman and Duplantis were first-team selections, while Robertson, Deichmann and Lange were voted to the second team.

The 2017 regular season for SEC teams begins Feb. 17 with conference play set for March 17.

2017 SEC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll
 
Eastern Division
1. Florida (10) – 70
2. South Carolina (4) – 61
3. Vanderbilt – 52
T4. Georgia – 29
T4. Kentucky – 29
6. Tennessee – 20
7. Missouri – 12
 
Western Division
1. LSU (13) – 72
2. Texas A&M (1) – 55
3. Ole Miss – 51
4. Mississippi State – 36
5. Arkansas – 27
T6. Alabama – 16
T6. Auburn – 16
 
SEC Champion: Florida (6), LSU (6), South Carolina (2)
 
2017 SEC Baseball Coaches Preseason All-SEC Team
 
First Team
C: Mike Rivera, Florida
1B: Evan White, Kentucky
2B: Cole Freeman, LSU
SS: Dalton Guthrie, Florida
3B: Jonathan India, Florida
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Jeren Kendall, Vanderbilt
OF: Antoine Duplantis, LSU
DH/UTL: JJ Schwarz, Florida
SP: Alex Faedo, Florida
SP: Kyle Wright, Vanderbilt
RP: Tyler Johnson, South Carolina
 
Second Team
C: Jason Delay, Vanderbilt
1B: JJ Schwarz, Florida
2B: Tate Blackman, Ole Miss
SS: Kramer Robertson, LSU
3B: Colby Bortles, Ole Miss
OF: Greg Deichmann, LSU
OF: Brent Rooker, Mississippi State
OF: Luke Bonfield, Arkansas
DH/UTL: Alex Destino, South Carolina
SP: Alex Lange, LSU
SP: Tanner Houck, Missouri
RP: Matt Ruppenthal, Vanderbilt