FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
DALLAS – TCU is No. 1 nationally for the first time in school history in the 2011 National Collegiate Baseball Writers poll.
Coach Jim Schlossnagle’s squad finished 54-14 a year and third in the university’s inaugural trip to the NCAA World Series after downing preseason No. 1 Texas in the 2010 NCAA Austin Super Regional. The 2010
NCBWA Coach of the Year welcome ’10 NCBWA Freshman of the Year and team ace (16-0 to lead the nation in wins) Matt Purke among a stellar cast of returnees. The Horned Frogs also gained a No. 1 rating in the pre-2011 Collegiate Baseball poll.
Defending NCAA champ South Carolina is No. 8 in the opening survey while 2010 NCAA Division I runnerup UCLA has been picked at No. 2 for ’11. The TCU top spot in 2011 is the first-ever preseason No. 1 for the Mountain West Conference.
The NCBWA continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 14th year with its 2011 preseason predictions and weekly surveys. Weekly polls will resume from Feb. 21-June 28 with the finale following the 65th annual 2011 NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The poll voters come from 40 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. After a preseason Top 35 listing, the remainder of the polls will feature a national Top 30 beginning with the Feb. 21 NCBWA survey.
LSU held down the No. 1 slot in the 1998, 2001 and 2009 NCBWA preseason selections while other No. 1 placers in the initial polls are Southern California (1999), Miami (Fla.) (2000), Stanford (2002), Cal State Fullerton (2005), Rice (2004, 07), Arizona State (2008), and North Carolina (2009). The three final No. 1 poll teams prior to LSU in 2009 came from the Far West in Fresno State (2008) and two-time NCAA champ Oregon State (2006 and ’07). Texas was No. 1 in the pre-2003, 2006 and 2010 NCBWA national rankings.
This week’s poll has representation by 12 different conferences among the 300 baseball-playing schools in the 2011 NCAA Division I ranks. The polls of 2010 had teams from 15 different DI conferences rated at least one week. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.
Rank-School-2010 Record-Final ’10 Poll Place
1 TCU Mountain West 54-14 3
2 UCLA Pacific-10 51-17 2
3 Florida Southeastern 47-17 8
4 Vanderbilt SEC 46-20 15
5 Oklahoma Big 12 50-18 5
6 Texas Big 12 50-13 9
7 Clemson Atlantic Coast 45-25 4
8 South Carolina SEC 54-16 1
9 Cal State Fullerton Big West 46-18 12
10 Florida State ACC 48-20 6
11 Arizona State Pac-10 52-10 7
12 Oregon Pac-10 40-24 25
13 Virginia ACC 51-14 10
14 Stanford Pac-10 31-25 NR
15 Rice Conference USA 40-23 21
16 Texas A&M Big 12 43-21-1 24
17 Connecticut Big East 48-16 22
18 Coastal Carolina Big South 55-10 11
19 LSU SEC 41-22 29
20 Miami (Fla.) ACC 43-20 13
21 Georgia Tech ACC 47-15 16
22 Louisville Big East 50-14 17
23 Auburn SEC 43-21 19
24 Arkansas SEC 43-21 14
25 Arizona Pacific-10 34-24 NR
26 College of Charleston Southern 44-19 27
27 UC Irvine Big West 39-21 20
28 Alabama SEC 42-25 18
29 North Carolina ACC 38-22 26
30 California Pac-10 29-25 NR
31 St. John’s Big East 43-20 28
32 Baylor Big 12 36-24 NR
33 Wichita State Missouri Valley 41-19 NR
34 Washington State Pac-10 37-22 NR
35 Fresno State Western Athletic 38-25 NR
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically with 2010 records): Bethune-Cookman (35-22), Cal Poly (23-32), Charlotte (39-17), East Carolina (32-27), Elon (38-24), Florida Atlantic (37-24), Florida International (36-25), Hawai’i (35-28), James Madison (30-23), Kansas (31-27-1), Kansas State (37-22), Kent State (39-25), Liberty (42-19), Louisiana-Lafayette (38-22), Michigan (35-22), Minnesota (32-20), Ole Miss (39-24), NC State (38-24), New Mexico (38-22), Oregon State (32-24), Pittsburgh (38-18), San Diego (37-22), San Diego State (28-28), Southern Miss (36-24), Texas State (38-22), The Citadel (43-22), Troy (36-25), Tulane (32-24), UC Riverside (32-23), UCF (33-22), VCU (34-26-1), Virginia Tech (40-22), Western Carolina (37-21-1).
Dropped Out: Virginia Tech (23), Ole Miss (29).
By conference: Pac-10 7, SEC 7, ACC 6, Big 12 4, Big East 3, Big West 2, Big South 1, C- USA 1, MVC 1, MWC 1, Southern 1, WAC 1.
