DALLAS (NCBWA) – DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 23rd year with its 2020 weekly surveys and Vanderbilt tops preseason poll for 2020, followed by Louisville at No. 2 and Texas Tech at No. 3.
Vanderbilt is the preseason favorite for the second-straight season, and previously was the preseason No. 1 pick in 2015. The Commodores return a talented squad as they look to defend their 2019 NCAA College World Series title.
Previous No. 1 entries on the preseason NCBWA rankings have been LSU in the 1998, 2001 and 2009 polls, Southern California (1999), Miami (Fla.) (2000), Stanford (2002), Texas (2003, 06, 10), Rice (2004, 07), Cal State Fullerton (2005, 14), Arizona State (2008), North Carolina (2009), TCU (2011, 17), Florida (2012, 18), Arkansas (2013), and Vanderbilt (2015, 19).
Louisville was selected second as they bring to the table a talented squad in 2020, followed by Texas Tech at No. 3 for the second-straight season. The Red Raiders finished the 2019 season by advancing to the College World Series for the fourth time in six years.
Georgia comes in a No. 4 while Miami rounds out the top five.
Overall, there are six SEC schools in the top 10, followed by two ACC schools and one Big 12 and Pac-12 program apiece.
Miami is the biggest mover in the poll, going from No. 24 in the final poll of 2019 to preseason No. 5. Both Arizona State and Florida move into the top 10 at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, after just receiving votes in the 2019 poll.
Wake Forest and Oklahoma jump into the top 25 at No. 23 and No. 24, respectively, after not being represented in the final poll of 2019.
The 2020 poll voters come from among 35 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. 17 NCBWA DI survey.
The current survey has representation by 10 different conferences among the 295 baseball-playing schools in the 2019 NCAA Division I ranks. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to ncbwa.com.
2020 NCBWA DIVISION I PRESEASON POLL (FEB. 3)
Rk. School Conference Record Pvs.
1. Vanderbilt SEC 0-0 1
2. Louisville ACC 0-0 3
3. Texas Tech Big 12 0-0 4
4. Georgia SEC 0-0 16
5. Miami ACC 0-0 24
6. Arkansas SEC 0-0 7
7. Arizona State Pac-12 0-0 RV
8. Florida SEC 0-0 RV
9. Mississippi State SEC 0-0 5
10. Auburn SEC 0-0 8
11. UCLA Pac-12 0-0 9
12. Michigan Big Ten 0-0 2
13. LSU SEC 0-0 15
14. Florida State ACC 0-0 6
15. Duke ACC 0-0 17
16. Stanford Pac-12 0-0 10
17. N.C. State ACC 0-0 29
18. Oklahoma State Big 12 0-0 11
19. North Carolina ACC 0-0 14
20. East Carolina American Athletic 0-0 13
21. Texas A&M SEC 0-0 20
22. Georgia Tech ACC 0-0 18
23. Wake Forest ACC 0-0 NR
24. Oklahoma Big 12 0-0 NR
25. Ole Miss SEC 0-0 12
26. Arizona Pac-12 0-0 NR
27. Dallas Baptist Missouri Valley 0-0 28
28. TCU Big 12 0-0 RV
29. Oregon State Pac-12 0-0 21
30. Texas Big 12 0-0 NR
31. Southern Miss Conference USA 0-0 RV
32. Ohio State Big Ten 0-0 NR
33. Miami (Ohio) Mid-American 0-0 NR
34. UC Santa Barbara Big West 0-0 22
35. West Virginia Big 12 0-0 19
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Alabama (0-0), Baylor (0-0), BYU (0-0), Cal State Fullerton (0-0), Clemson (0-0), Coastal Carolina (0-0), Connecticut (0-0), Creighton (0-0), Florida Atlantic (0-0), Fresno State (0-0), Hawaii (0-0), Indiana (0-0), Indiana State (0-0), Lafayette (0-0), Louisiana (0-0), Minnesota (0-0), New Mexico State (0-0), North Carolina A&T (0-0), Old Dominion (0-0), Sam Houston State (0-0), San Diego State (0-0), South Alabama (0-0), Southern (0-0), Tennessee (0-0), UC Irvine (0-0), Virginia (0-0), Washington (0-0).
By conference: SEC 9, ACC 8, Big 12 6, Pac-12 5, American Athletic 1, Big Ten 2, Big West 1, Conference USA 1, Mid-American 1, Missouri Valley 1.
Records are from the 2019 season; Previous rank is from final 2019 poll
