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Previewing the SEC Teams Inside the Top 25

The college baseball season is here and D1Baseball has their preseason Top 25 Rankings out. Let's preview the SEC teams inside the Top 25

By Baron Dionis

2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship
2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship / Jay Biggerstaff/GettyImages
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Arkansas starting pitcher Hagen Smith pitches against LSU during the SEC Tournament elimination game
Arkansas starting pitcher Hagen Smith pitches against LSU during the SEC Tournament elimination game / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA

Number 3, University of Arkansas

Coming at number three is the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Razorbacks are coming off a good season with a record of 43-18 while going 20-10 in conference play. This record was good enough for them to finish in first place on the west side of the Southeastern Conference.

The Razorbacks lost early in the College World Series regionals, but they are still ranked very high after returning one of the best pitchers in college baseball.

Hagen Smith is a top left-handed pitcher in college baseball and is ranked as the 15th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Last season, Smith posted a 3.64 earned run average in 71.2 innings pitched with 109 strikeouts. He has very elite strikeout pitches as he had a 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

On offense, the Razorbacks return Kendall Diggs, a junior outfielder. Diggs has played two seasons with Arkansas and was very good in his sophomore season. Last year, Diggs had a batting average of .299 with 12 home runs and 63 runs batted in. These stats got him on to the Second Team All-SEC.

The Razorbacks are also bringing in Hudson White, a catcher from Texas Tech. White was a preseason All-Big 12 a year ago and had a great season with the Red Raiders. Last season, White had a batting average of .296 with 11 home runs and 49 runs batted in. He also had a solid OPS of .947.

Arkansas has a strong team returning from last season and picked up multiple players in the transfer portal. They look to repeat as winners in the SEC West and win more games in the post-season.