Gators Ranked No. 16 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll
Friday, December 20, 2013 | Baseball
The University of Florida was ranked 16th in Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I Preseason Poll released on Friday. It marks the sixth-straight season that head coach Kevin O'Sullivan's club has been ranked during the preseason in the nation's oldest college baseball poll, which began in 1958. The Gators were No. 25 in 2009, No. 9 in 2010, No. 2 in 2011, No. 1 in 2012 and No. 24 last season.
Cal State Fullerton headlines the publication's top five, followed by Mississippi State, LSU, Oregon State and Florida State. The Orange and Blue will begin the 2014 campaign, the 100th season of Florida Baseball, on Feb. 14 at McKethan Stadium, when Maryland visits for the opener of a three-game series.
Last season, Florida advanced to NCAA Regionals for the sixth year in a row, matching the longest run in school history, and has reached the College World Series in three of the past four campaigns. UF has over half of its games versus opponents who advanced to the 2013 NCAA Tournament, including home series against Arkansas, Connecticut, LSU and Vanderbilt, and will have four series totaling 12 games against teams that reached Super Regionals, one of which advanced to Omaha. The Gators return 18 letterwinners and are bolstered by the nation's top recruiting class from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game.
Florida joins several other SEC programs in the poll, as all 14 teams are either ranked (Mississippi State, 2nd; LSU, 3rd; Vanderbilt, 9th; South Carolina, 14th; Texas A&M, 25th; Alabama, 29th; Ole Miss, 30th) or received votes (Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri).
The contest with the Terrapins begins the 34-game home schedule at McKethan Stadium, where the Gators boast a 175-50 (.778) mark in O'Sullivan's tenure. Twenty-one of UF's 56 games during the regular season will be against squads listed in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
2014 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Division I Preseason Poll
| Rank | School ('13 Final Record) | Points |
| 1. | Cal State Fullerton (51-10) | 495 |
| 2. | Mississippi State (51-20) | 493 |
| 3. | LSU (57-11) | 491 |
| 4. | Oregon State (52-13) | 487 |
| 5. | Florida State (47-17) | 485 |
| 6. | Oregon (48-16) | 483 |
| 7. | Indiana (49-16) | 481 |
| 8. | Louisville (51-14) | 479 |
| 9. | Vanderbilt (54-12) | 477 |
| 10. | NC State (50-16) | 474 |
| 11. | North Carolina (59-12) | 471 |
| 12. | Virginia (50-12) | 468 |
| 13. | Miami (FL) (37-25) | 465 |
| 14. | South Carolina (43-20) | 463 |
| 15. | UCLA (49-17) | 460 |
| 16. | FLORIDA (29-30) | 457 |
| 17. | Rice (44-20) | 455 |
| 18. | Oklahoma State (41-19) | 454 |
| 19. | TCU (29-28) | 451 |
| 20. | Texas (27-24) | 450 |
| 21. | Clemson (40-22) | 447 |
| 22. | Arizona State (37-22-1) | 445 |
| 23. | UL-Lafayette (43-10) | 443 |
| 24. | Arizona (34-21) | 441 |
| 25. | Texas A&M (34-29) | 437 |
| 26. | Stanford (32-22) | 435 |
| 27. | Cal Poly (40-19) | 432 |
| 28. | Kansas State (45-19) | 430 |
| 29. | Alabama (35-28) | 423 |
| 30. | Ole Miss (38-24) | 421 |
| 31. | Western Carolina (39-20) | 419 |
| 32. | Oklahoma (43-21) | 417 |
| 33. | San Diego (37-25) | 414 |
| 34. | Wichita State (39-28) | 411 |
| 35. | Liberty (36-29) | 409 |
| 36. | Tennessee Tech (40-17) | 404 |
| 37. | New Mexico (37-22) | 403 |
| 38. | East Carolina (31-26) | 400 |
| 39. | UC Santa Barbara (34-23) | 396 |
| 40. | Coastal Carolina (37-23) | 395 |
Other Teams Receiving Votes: Arkansas, UNLV, Auburn, San Diego State, Fresno State, Southern California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, South Alabama, San Francisco, Loyola Marymount, Brigham Young, Seton Hall, Georgia Tech, Mercer, UC Irvine, Missouri State, Pepperdine, Troy, Sam Houston State, Austin Peay State, Bryant, Florida Atlantic, UNC Wilmington, Houston, UCF, St. Louis, Creighton, Campbell, Nebraska, Gonzaga, Sacramento State, New Mexico State, St. John's, Cal State Bakersfield, Ohio State, Michigan, Southern Miss, Kent State, Illinois State, Appalachian State, The Citadel, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Southeastern Louisiana, California, Washington, Washington State, West Virginia, Baylor, Minnesota, Stony Brook, Dallas Baptist, UT Arlington, Texas State, Maine, USF, Connecticut, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Missouri, Notre Dame, North Florida, East Tennessee State, Florida Gulf Coast, VCU, Rhode Island, Charlotte.
Season tickets for the 2014 Gator Baseball season are on sale and can be purchased online at www.GatorZone.com/tickets or by calling the Gator Ticket Office at 1-800-34-GATOR from 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
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