Baseball Writers Rank Cardinals 25th in Preseason Poll
January 27, 2012 | Baseball
Jan. 27, 2012
DALLAS - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its preseason poll on Friday morning and the Louisville baseball team is ranked 25th overall, the Cardinals' fourth preseason ranking for 2012.
Along with the NCBWA ranking, the Cards will enter the 2012 season ranked 15th by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, 24th by Baseball America and 24th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll. The Cardinals, who have earned a preseason ranking in four straight seasons, are one of two current BIG EAST Conference teams in the preseason poll with St. John's ranked 27th. Future BIG EAST member Central Florida is No. 28 in the NCBWA poll, while Florida is the top-ranked team.
The Cardinals, led by the return of preseason All-American pitcher and All-BIG EAST performer Justin Amlung, welcome back nearly the entire pitching staff and numerous position players with starting experience from last year's squad. Overall, Louisville returns 19 letterwinners from the 2011 team, which finished 32-29 overall.
Head coach Dan McDonnell enters his sixth season leading the Louisville baseball program. In his five previous seasons, McDonnell is 217-106 with two BIG EAST regular-season titles, two BIG EAST Tournament titles, four NCAA Regionals, two NCAA Super Regionals and one College World Series.
The Cards will officially open practice for 2012 this weekend with a pair of open scrimmages at Jim Patterson Stadium. The first scrimmage is scheduled for today at 2:30 p.m., ET, while the second scrimmage is set for Saturday at 11 a.m.
Louisville will open the 2012 season on Feb. 17 against Minnesota in Clearwater, Fla., on day one of the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge. The Cardinals' home-opener at Jim Patterson Stadium is set for Feb. 22 against Eastern Kentucky.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
2012 NCBWA Preseason Poll
Team (First-place votes) - 2011 Record - Final 2011 Ranking
1 Florida - 53-19 - 2
2 South Carolina - 55-14 - 1
3 North Carolina - 51-16 - 5
4 Stanford - 35-22 - 13
5 Texas A&M - 47-22 - 8
6 Arkansas - 40-22 - 20
7 Texas - 49-19 - 7
8 Rice - 42-21 - 18
9 Georgia Tech - 42-21 - 23
10 Florida State - 46-19 - 10
11 Vanderbilt - 54-12 - 4
12 LSU - 36-20 - NR
13 TCU - 43-19 - 16
14 Oklahoma - 41-19 - 24
15 Arizona State - 43-18 - 9
16 Miami (Fla.) - 38-23 - 26
17 Clemson - 43-20 - 15
18 Arizona - 39-21 - 25
19 Cal State Fullerton - 41-17 - 17
20 UCLA - 35-24 - 22
21 Georgia - 33-32 - NR
22 Oregon State - 41-19 - 12
23 Virginia - 56-12 - 3
24 UC Irvine - 43-18 - 11
25 Louisville - 32-29 - NR
26 California - 38-23 - 6
27 St. John's - 36-22 - NR
28 UCF - 39-23 - NR
29 Southern Miss - 39-19 - 30
30 Ole Miss - 30-25 - NR
31 Stetson - 43-20 - NR
32 Baylor - 31-28 - NR
33 Dallas Baptist - 42-20 - 21
34 Mississippi State - 38-25 - 19
35 Coastal Carolina - 42-20 - NR
