Clemson Picked Third in ACC Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll

by Press Release - Wed Jan 19 11:17:27 GMT-04:00 2000

GREENSBORO, N.C. ¯ The Atlantic Coast Conference's nine head coaches selected Florida State as the top pick to win the conference championship in 2000. The Seminoles return 7 starters from their 1999 squad which played in the College World Series Championship game and finished second in the Baseball Weekly, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls. Florida State tallied 79 points including seven of the nine first place votes.

Georgia Tech comes in with 67 points, twelve behind pre-season favorite Florida State. The Yellow Jackets finished 38-20, 12-12 in the league last season and will return ten starters from the 1999 campaign.

The Clemson Tigers fill the third place slot with 66 points, including one first place vote, while defending ACC champion Wake Forest placed fourth in the balloting with 53 points and receiving the one remaining first place vote. The Demon Deacons were followed by North Carolina who was fifth with 48 points, NC State and Virginia tied for sixth with 31 points each, Maryland eighth with 16 points and Duke ninth with 14 points.

Rated as one of the top leagues in the country, the ACC historically plays some of the nation's best teams. This year's opponents list looks more like a who's who list for college baseball featuring 19 teams that participated in the 1999 NCAA Tournament, including nine teams that were ranked in the final national polls.

The ACC baseball season opens with the six-team ACC/Disney Baseball Blast which will be held Friday through Sunday, January 28-30, at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. Joining Clemson, North Carolina and Wake Forest in the event will be Central Florida, Miami and Rice. All three opponents are members of Baseball America's pre-season top 25 with Miami at #5, Rice #14 and Central Florida coming in at #23.


2000 ACC Coaches Preseason Predicted Order of Finish


1.	Florida St (7)	79


2.	Georgia Tech	67


3.	Clemson (1)	66


4.	Wake Forest (1)	53


5.	North Carolina	48


6.	NC State	31


	Virginia	31


8.	Maryland	16


9.	Duke	        14

(#) denotes first place votes

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