The latest of the 2011 preseason college baseball polls has been released. UCLA, the 2010 national runner-up, sits at number one in the preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Baseball Poll. TCU, another ’10 CWS team, is second. The Bruins and Horned Frogs tied for the lead with nine first-place votes each. UCLA had 741 overall points to TCU’s 728.
Florida, Vanderbilt and Clemson round-out the top five. Oklahoma, Texas, defending national champion South Carolina, Cal State Fullerton, and Oregon complete the top 10.
The biggest discrepancy between the coaches’ poll and the Baseball America preseason poll, which was also released earlier today, is Connecticut’s ranking. The Huskies are 9th in the BA rankings, but come-in just 22nd in the coaches’ poll.
Click Here to see the Baseball America preseason Top 25.
Click Here to see the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 25.
Each of the three polls has a different number one team. College Baseball 360 will soon release our Preseason Composite National Rankings.
USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 coaches’ baseball poll
Jan. 27, 2011 — preseason poll
Rank
|
School (first-place votes) |
2010 record
|
Points
|
Final 2010 rank
|
1
|
UCLA (9) |
51-17
|
741
|
2
|
2
|
TCU (9) |
54-14
|
728
|
3
|
3
|
Florida (7) |
47-17
|
709
|
8
|
4
|
Vanderbilt (1) |
46-20
|
593
|
13
|
5
|
Clemson |
45-25
|
592
|
4
|
6
|
Oklahoma |
50-18
|
587
|
5
|
7
|
Texas |
50-13
|
577
|
9
|
8
|
South Carolina (5) |
54-16
|
564
|
1
|
9
|
Cal State Fullerton |
46-18
|
449
|
12
|
10
|
Oregon |
40-24
|
402
|
NR
|
11
|
Florida State |
48-20
|
401
|
6
|
12
|
Arizona State |
52-10
|
372
|
7
|
13
|
Texas A&M |
43-21-1
|
371
|
21
|
14
|
Virginia |
51-14
|
369
|
10
|
15
|
LSU |
41-22
|
278
|
25
|
16
|
Stanford |
31-25
|
277
|
NR
|
17
|
Rice |
40-23
|
261
|
20
|
18
|
Miami (Fla.) |
43-20
|
249
|
15
|
19
|
Georgia Tech |
47-15
|
214
|
17
|
20
|
Coastal Carolina |
55-10
|
210
|
11
|
21
|
Louisville |
50-14
|
178
|
16
|
22
|
Connecticut |
48-16
|
156
|
23
|
23
|
Auburn |
43-21
|
128
|
19
|
24
|
Arkansas |
43-21
|
113
|
14
|
25
|
Arizona |
34-24
|
110
|
NR
|
Others receiving votes (with 2010 records): UC-Irvine (39-21) 92; Alabama (42-25) 75; Wichita State (41-19) 54; North Carolina (38-22) 31; Mississippi (39-24) 28; San Diego (37-22) 27; College of Charleston (44-19) 24; St. John’s (43-20) 17; Baylor (36-24) 14; Fresno State (38-25) 14; Washington State (37-22) 14; Oregon State (32-24) 11; Virginia Tech (40-22) 9; Tulane (32-24) 8; California (29-25) 5; Kansas State (37-22) 5; Pittsburgh (38-18) 5; Kent State (39-25) 3; Central Florida (33-22) 2; Florida Atlantic (37-24) 2; Southern Mississippi (36-24) 2; Hawaii (35-28) 1; Liberty (42-19) 1; Minnesota (32-30) 1; North Carolina State (38-24) 1.
The 2011 board: The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2011 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; Greg DiCenzo, Holy Cross; David Eldredge, Southern Utah; Mike Gaski, North Carolina-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Daniel Heefner, Dallas Baptist; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; Steve Kittrell, South Alabama; Kevin Leighton, Manhattan; Gary McClure, Austin Peay; Mervyl Melendez, Bethune-Cookman; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, North Carolina-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.
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