Baseball Ranked 15th in Preseason Poll

by TigerNet Staff - Thu Jan 16 13:03:42 GMT-04:00 2003

CLEMSON -- The 2003 Clemson baseball team has been ranked 15th by the The Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 Preseason College Baseball Coaches Poll. The Tiger previously had been ranked 18th by Collegiate Baseball and 19th by Baseball America in each organization's preseason poll. The Tigers are coming off a College World Series season in which they finished 54-17.

Head Coach Jack Leggett's squad will be led by senior first baseman Michael Johnson. The second-round draft pick in 2002 was named a preseason second-team All-American by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball after batting .384 with 25 home runs and 81 RBIs in 2002.

The Tigers will begin the 2003 season on Feb. 21 at Auburn.

The Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 Preseason College Baseball Coaches Poll as selected by 41 Division I head baseball coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). See Sports Weekly for complete season previews for all top 25 teams below, on newsstands Jan. 29.

1.TEXAS (57-15) Poll points: 965 (19 No. 1 votes)

2. GEORGIA TECH (52-16) Poll points: 923 (15)

3. FLORIDA STATE (60-14) Poll points: 909 (2)

4. RICE (52-14) Poll points: 881 (3)

5. STANFORD (47-18) Poll points: 837 (1)

6. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (37-24) Poll points: 826 (1)

7. LSU (44-22) Poll points: 724

8. SOUTH CAROLINA (57-18) Poll points: 652

9. ARIZONA STATE (37-21) Poll points: 640

10. CAL STATE FULLERTON (37-22) Poll points: 617

11. HOUSTON (48-17) Poll points: 594

12. WAKE FOREST (47-13-1) Poll points: 582

13. BAYLOR (36-26) Poll points: 496

14. NOTRE DAME (50-18) Poll points: 465

15. CLEMSON (54-17) Poll points: 444

16. LONG BEACH STATE (39-21) Poll points: 410

17. MISSISSIPPI STATE (34-24-1) Poll points: 389

18. RICHMOND (53-13) Poll points: 310

19. NEBRASKA (47-21) Poll points: 239

20. MIAMI (34-29) Poll points: 234

21. AUBURN (34-26) Poll points: 168

22. SOUTH ALABAMA (42-19) Poll points: 158

23. STETSON (42-19) Poll points: 139

24. NORTH CAROLINA (43-21) Poll points: 98

25. FLORIDA ATLANTIC (46-21) Poll points: 87

Others receiving votes: Tulane (67), Wichita State (56), Oklahoma (38), Southwest Missouri State (37), Florida (36), Texas Tech (34), California (32), Alabama (29), San Diego State (20), James Madison (20), Central Florida (19), Ohio State (19), Oklahoma State (19), Arizona (16), Virginia Commonwealth (13), Florida International (12), Mississippi (12), Oregon (10), Louisiana-Lafayette (7), Tennessee (6), Georgia (5), Washington (5), New Orleans (5), Arkansas (5), Cal State Northridge (5), Nevada-Las Vegas (3), Rutgers (2), UCLA (1), Kent State (1), Louisville (1), Texas A&M (1), San Diego (1), UC-Irvine (1).