Louisville at No. 12 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll
December 22, 2014 | Baseball
Senior Zach Lucas celebrates Louisville's 2014 NCAA Super Regional victory.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the release of the first preseason national poll on Monday, the Louisville baseball team found itself in a familiar place landing at No. 12 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper preseason top 40.
After ending their 2014 season at the College World Series and earning a No. 6 national ranking in multiple national polls, the Cardinals will enter 2015 ranked in the preseason top 25 for the eighth consecutive season. Last season, Louisville was ranked as highly as No. 8 in the preseason poll by Collegiate Baseball, while in 2013, the Cardinals entered the season ranked as highly as No. 4 by Baseball America.
Louisville is among seven ACC schools in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll, tied for the most from any conference. The ACC is led in the poll by No. 3 Virginia followed by No. 11 Florida State, the 12th-ranked Cardinals and No. 14 Miami in the top 15. North Carolina is 24th, Georgia Tech is No. 26 and Clemson is 28th.
Reigning NCAA champion Vanderbilt is atop the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll followed by No. 2 TCU, No. 3 Virginia, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Oklahoma State. Overall, seven teams in the top 28 spots in the preseason poll are on the Cardinals' schedule in 2015 - No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 3 UVA, No. 11 FSU, No. 14 Miami, No. 17 Cal State Fullerton, No. 26 Georgia Tech and No. 28 Clemson.
Guided by ninth year head coach Dan McDonnell, Louisville returns 19 letterwinners from its 2014 squad, which finished 50-17 overall, won the program's fifth regular season conference championship in six seasons and hosted NCAA postseason games for the second straight year. The Cardinals defeated Kennesaw State in the Louisville Super Regional to clinch their third CWS berth in eight seasons under McDonnell. Louisville, which has hosted six different rounds of NCAA postseason baseball in the last eight years, ended the season ranked as highly as sixth in the national polls.
In his eight seasons guiding the Louisville baseball program, McDonnell has placed the Cardinals among the nation's elite with three College World Series berths, four NCAA Super Regional appearances, seven NCAA Regional bids, five conference regular season titles, two conference tournament titles, 14 All-Americans and 359 wins overall (seventh most nationally during that eight-year span).
The Cardinals will open the 2015 season at the Clearwater (Fla.) Tournament against Alabama State (Feb. 13), USF (Feb. 14) and Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 15) at Bright House Field. Louisville's 33-game home slate at Jim Patterson Stadium is set to begin on Feb. 18 against Eastern Kentucky.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I Pre-Season Poll
1. Vanderbilt (51-21)
2. Texas Christian (48-18)
3. Virginia (53-16)
4. Louisiana St. (46-16-1)
5. Oklahoma St. (48-18)
6. Florida (40-23)
7. Texas (46-21)
8. Houston (48-18)
9. Texas Tech (45-21)
10. UCLA (25-30-1)
11. Florida St. (43-17)
12. Louisville (50-17)
13. Cal. Poly (47-12)
14. Miami, Fla. (44-19)
15. Oregon (44-20)
16. U.C. Santa Barbara (34-17-1)
17. Cal. St. Fullerton (34-24)
18. Stanford (35-26)
19. Arizona St. (33-24)
20. Mississippi St. (39-24)
21. South Carolina (44-18)
22. Rice (42-20)
23. Liberty (41-18)
24. North Carolina (35-27)
25. College of Charleston (44-19)
26. Georgia Tech (37-27)
27. Kennesaw St. (40-24)
28. Clemson (36-25)
29. St. John's (35-20)
30. Kent St. (36-23)
31. Ball St. (39-18)
32. Wichita St. (31-28)
33. Tennessee (31-23)
34. San Diego (34-20)
35. Loyola Marymount (32-24)
36. Arkansas (40-25)
37. Maryland (40-23)
38. Nebraska (41-21)
39. U.C. Irvine (41-25)
40. Illinois (32-21)
