The College World Series has an even stronger Southeastern Conference flavor than usual.

SEC members Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt comprise half the eight-team College World Series field. The CWS begins Saturday when Texas Tech faces Michigan and Arkansas meets Florida State at Omaha, Nebraska.

This marks the 11th time in the last 12 seasons that the CWS includes multiple SEC teams. At least one SEC team has reached the CWS’ best-of-3 championship round 10 of the last 11 years.

“It’s the same every year,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “It’s a great league. A lot of kids want to play in this league. A lot of kids will turn down money from professional baseball to play in this league, because it gets you ready. It gets you ready for the next step.”

This CWS field this year also is notable for what’s missing. For the first time since 1996, no West Coast schools reached Omaha.