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Mississippi State predicted inside top 10 of the league with Hunter Hines All-SEC by Coaches

3rupauk8_400x400by:Robbie Faulk•about 8 hours•

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Mississippi State first baseman Hunter Hines

With the college baseball season just over one week away from first pitch, the SEC coaches have spoken on their thoughts with the league this season.

The annual preseason All-SEC team and predicted order of finish was released on Wednesday morning with Mississippi State picked to finish ninth in the first year of the 16-team league. Texas A&M earned 10 first place votes and is predicted as the No. 1 team in the SEC this year followed by Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU and Florida.

Also garnering attention in the preseason is returning senior first baseman Hunter Hines. The fourth-year Diamond Dawg was selected as a first-team All-SEC first baseman along with LSU’s Jared Jones.

“He’s a middle lineup type hitter and when you coach against somebody, you’re always looking at somebody’s lineup and saying, ‘don’t let that guy beat us.’ And he’s that guy that you should be looking at saying, ‘man, this is one of the toughest outs in the league,” head coach Chris Lemonis said last month.

“Still got to work. Got to get after it. This game is tough, so he wants to get back on track. It takes a lot of hard work, but I like what he’s doing right now.”

Hines has already landed All-SEC honors during his career when he was named to the All-Freshman team in 2022 and first-team All-SEC in 2023. He enters 2025 fourth in school history with 54 career home runs and is 14 shy of being the all-time leader in maroon and white. With 16 or more home runs in all three seasons, that record is very much in danger.

The Madison Central alum has a .283 career batting average with 187 hits, 54 homers, 34 doubles and 169 RBI. He returned for his senior season to end his career on a high note after batting a career low .257 in 2024 with 74 strikeouts.

As for the Diamond Dawg team, Lemonis is working to put his program back in the national spotlight after fading in the last three years. Since the school’s first national title in 2021, State had back-to-back seasons with just nine SEC wins before getting back into postseason last year.

The Bulldogs finished 40-23 last year with a 17-13 record in SEC play but were kept out of hosting a Regional. State went on the road to Charlottesville and the team was eliminated by eventual College World Series team Virginia. This year, Lemonis’ goals are for his team to host in the postseason and get back to Omaha for the third time in six chances during his tenure.

“To go to Omaha, you got to host. And so I think the message has been about being consistent, taking care of all your games, not just the big ones on Friday night, and putting yourself in a really good position so that you can host,” Lemonis said. “I’d like to think (getting back on track) is out of here and we’re ready to play ball move forward. After last year’s group, they got us back on track.”

The Diamond Dawgs will get the season rolling on February 14 when they welcome in Manhattan for a three-game series beginning on Friday.

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