What does the SEC move entail for Texas Longhorns baseball?
With good reason, most of the attention on reported interest from Texas and Oklahoma in joining the Southeastern Conference focuses on football. The two programs have combined to win 11 national championships, produced nine Heisman Trophy winners, and placed 262 players on the All-America first team.
[Get Inside Texas Plus until the start of the 2023 season for $29.99!]
Both athletic programs boast proud baseball histories as well. Between the two schools there are eight national championships, 47 College World Series appearances, and 71 first-team All-Americans. Oklahoma is a good program with a good history. Texas is a baseball blueblood and arguably the most storied program in the country. Though there are certainly fans in Norman who value baseball, it is not as large of a consideration north of the Red River as it is south of it (This is also fully admitting the potential move to the SEC is about football first, second, and third).
The Big 12 has proven to be a formidable baseball conference in recent years. It was the No. 1 RPI conference in 2017 and the No. 2 RPI conference from 2018 to 2021.
The No. 1 RPI conference during that time period was the Southeastern Conference.
An SEC team has won seven of the last 12 College World Series. An SEC team has been in the championship series in 15 of the last 21. Three of those 21 were all SEC finals.
Baseball is as big of a deal around the SEC as it is around Texas. The Longhorns most recent showing in Omaha, in which they faced SEC opponents with fervent followings four times, should illustrate that. So too should the lavish facilities and eight stadiums with capacities larger than 5,000.
Football is ingrained into the culture of the SEC footprint, of course. All of the fanbases are made up of true die-hards, but consider that Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina all lack professional sports teams within their borders. Though the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons likely have a significant following in those states, often times the college sports program is the biggest show within state lines. Plus, those teams occupy fall weekends.
The spring in SEC country is baseball season.
Think about where the professional baseball teams are. Florida has the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays, two teams who struggle to draw for a variety of reasons. The only other MLB team in the region is the Atlanta Braves.
Thanks to the superstation days and Atlanta’s function as one of the South’s cultural capitals, there is plenty of fervor for the Braves (an aside, the rabidness of Texas A&M fans has no governor as a result of professional franchises like the Astros or Texans). But for many, Atlanta is a few hours away. It’s not easy to get from Yazoo City to Atlanta for a weekend.
Why go see a Braves game when one can get to Oxford in half the time, see a game or two (or three) at 12,152-seat Swayze Field, and support the alma mater or beloved institution at a fraction of the price?
That is why baseball is one of the SEC’s best athletic endeavors. The conference has blueblood LSU, current elites Mississippi State, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt, and strong programs in South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Florida. Tennessee, who just went on a historic run, made a major commitment to head coach Tony Vitello following the Vols’ Omaha run.
Let’s check the current Big 12. Texas, TCU, and Texas Tech have won each of the last seven regular season titles. Oklahoma State is traditionally a strong program and a consistent NCAA tournament team but has yet to break through this century save for one appearance in Omaha in 2016. Aside from those four, the fifth and sixth teams seem to be on a rotation depending on who has an up year.
Oh yeah, every SEC school fields baseball, all 14 of them. The Big 12 has nine baseball teams. Send all complaints to Ames, Iowa.
Baseball is serious business for schools east of the Sabine, just as it’s serious business for the school not too far from the banks of the Colorado. Now, Texas will likely be in a conference where more members care about spring weekends than in the Big 12.
It’s equipped to handle it well. Batter up.
Cover photo courtesy of the NCAA
