University of Georgia junior Michael Curry has been named to the coaches preseason All-SEC First Team, the league announced Thursday.

Curry, 5-11, 212-pound native of Gainesville, Ga., earned First Team All-SEC last season after batting .297 with a team-high 10 home runs and 46 RBI. He started all 57 games including 41 at designated hitter and 16 at catcher. An excellent student majoring in Computer Science, Curry earned 2017 Academic All-SEC honors too. Earlier this year, he was honored by the Atlanta 400 Baseball Club as the Jason Varitek Award recipient for being the Most Outstanding Baseball Scholar Athlete in Georgia. In his Bulldog career, Curry has appeared in 111 games with 107 starts. He’s tallied 21 home runs and 80 RBI to go with a .280 batting average.

In related baseball news, the league released the results of the preseason SEC coaches poll with Georgia tabbed to finish fifth in the Eastern Division behind Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. The defending national champion Gators are the preseason favorite to win the league. Arkansas is the favorite to capture the Western Division, and the Razorbacks visit Foley Field during the final weekend of the regular season (May 17-19). In the SEC, Georgia also will face South Carolina, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Georgia’s SEC road trips will be to Alabama, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Missouri and Florida.

For the SEC preseason team and poll, coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team, and each coach also voted for one team as an overall conference champion.

The 2018 baseball season opens Feb. 16 as the Bulldogs play host to Georgia Southern in a three-game series at Foley Field. SEC action is set to begin March 16. Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin is in his fifth season leading the Bulldogs. Georgia return 26 veterans including all nine starting position players and a majority of the pitching staff from the 2017 club. Also, season tickets are available to purchase now online via georgiadogs.com.

2018 SEC Baseball Coaches Preseason All-SEC Team

First Team

C: Grant Koch, Arkansas

1B: Julian Infante, Vanderbilt

2B: Cobie Vance, Alabama

SS: Braden Shewmake, Texas A&M

3B: Jonathan India, Florida

DH/UTL: Michael Curry, Georgia

OF: Antoine Duplantis, LSU

OF: Tristan Pompey, Kentucky

OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State

SP: Brady Singer, Florida

SP: Casey Mize, Auburn

RP: Michael Byrne, Florida

2018 SEC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll

Eastern Division

1. Florida (13) – 91

2. Kentucky (1) – 74

3. Vanderbilt – 72

4. South Carolina – 50

5. Georgia – 41

6. Missouri – 32

7. Tennessee – 25

Western Division

1. Arkansas (12) – 90

2. Texas A&M (1) – 72

3. Ole Miss (1) – 62

4. LSU – 59

5. Mississippi State – 44

6. Auburn – 38

7. Alabama – 20

() – First place votes

SEC Champion: Florida (12), Arkansas (1), Texas A&M (1)