Gators Ranked No. 6 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll
Monday, December 22, 2014 | Baseball
The University of Florida was ranked No. 6 in Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I Preseason Poll released on Monday. It marks the seventh-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 1959. The Gators were No. 25 in 2009, No. 9 in 2010, No. 2 in 2011, No. 1 in 2012, No. 24 in 2013 and No. 16 last season.
Defending national champion Vanderbilt headlines the publication's top five, followed by TCU, Virginia, LSU and Oklahoma State. The Orange and Blue will begin the 2015 campaign on Feb. 13 at McKethan Stadium, when Rhode Island visits for the opener of a three-game series.
Last season, Florida won its third SEC title in the past five seasons and advanced to NCAA Regionals for the seventh year in a row, the longest run in school history. The Gators have also reached the College World Series in three of the past five campaigns. UF has close to half of its games versus opponents who advanced to the 2014 NCAA Tournament, including home series against Alabama, Kentucky, Miami and South Carolina, and will have a pair of road series against teams that advanced to Omaha (Ole Miss and Vanderbilt). The Gators return 22 letterwinners and are bolstered by the nation's No. 3 recruiting class from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game.
Florida joins several other SEC programs in the poll, as 10 other teams are either ranked (Vanderbilt, 1st; LSU, 4th; Mississippi State, 20th; South Carolina, 21st; Tennessee, 33rd; Arkansas, 36th) or received votes (Kentucky, Ole Miss, Alabama, Texas A&M).
The contest with the Rams begins the 35-game home schedule at McKethan Stadium, where the Gators boast a 198-63 (.759) mark in O'Sullivan's tenure.
2015 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Division I Preseason Poll
| Rank | School ('14 Final Record) | Points |
| 1. | Vanderbilt (51-21) | 494 |
| 2. | TCU (48-18) | 492 |
| 3. | Virginia (53-16) | 489 |
| 4. | LSU (46-16-1) | 487 |
| 5. | Oklahoma State (48-18) | 485 |
| 6. | FLORIDA (40-23) | 483 |
| 7. | Texas (46-21) | 480 |
| 8. | Houston (48-18) | 479 |
| 9. | Texas Tech (45-21) | 477 |
| 10. | UCLA (25-30-1) | 473 |
| 11. | Florida State (43-17) | 469 |
| 12. | Louisville (50-17) | 468 |
| 13. | Cal Poly (47-12) | 467 |
| 14. | Miami (FL) (44-19) | 465 |
| 15. | Oregon (44-20) | 462 |
| 16. | UC Santa Barbara (34-17-1) | 460 |
| 17. | Cal State Fullerton (34-24) | 458 |
| 18. | Stanford (35-26) | 457 |
| 19. | Arizona State (33-24) | 454 |
| 20. | Mississippi State (39-24) | 452 |
| 21. | South Carolina (44-18) | 449 |
| 22. | Rice (42-20) | 446 |
| 23. | Liberty (41-18) | 445 |
| 24. | North Carolina (35-27) | 443 |
| 25. | College of Charleston (44-19) | 440 |
| 26. | Georgia Tech (37-27) | 438 |
| 27. | Kennesaw State (40-24) | 436 |
| 28. | Clemson (36-25) | 432 |
| 29. | St. John's (35-20) | 430 |
| 30. | Kent State (36-23) | 427 |
| 31. | Ball State (39-18) | 425 |
| 32. | Wichita State (31-28) | 424 |
| 33. | Tennessee (31-23) | 421 |
| 34. | San Diego (34-20) | 419 |
| 35. | Loyola Marymount (32-24) | 417 |
| 36. | Arkansas (40-25) | 414 |
| 37. | Maryland (40-23) | 412 |
| 38. | Nebraska (41-21) | 411 |
| 39. | UC Irvine (41-25) | 409 |
| 40. | Illinois (32-21) | 405 |
Other Teams Receiving Votes: Oregon State (49-15), San Diego State (42-21), UL-Lafayette (58-10), Kentucky (37-25), Washington (41-17-1), Ole Miss (48-21), Southern California (29-24), Alabama (37-24), Texas A&M (36-26), Arizona (22-33), New Mexico (37-20), UNLV (36-25), Dallas Baptist (40-21), Indiana State (35-18), Sacramento State (40-24), Troy (25-32), Texas State (30-28), Pepperdine (43-18), Grand Canyon (30-23), Miami (OH) (30-27), Southern Miss (35-25), FIU (36-20), Indiana (44-15), Sam Houston State (43-19), Michigan (30-29-1), UCF (36-23), Florida Gulf Coast (39-22), Stony Brook (35-18), St. Louis (34-21-1), Seton Hall (39-15), Creighton (32-17-1), Campbell (41-21), South Alabama (22-33), Winthrop (27-30), Coastal Carolina (24-33), William & Mary (34-22), Wright State (35-22), Central Michigan (35-23), Bryant (42-16), SE Missouri State (37-20), Tennessee Tech (40-19), Mercer (38-17), Samford (35-25), Western Carolina (37-18), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (31-27), Southeastern Louisiana (38-25).
Season tickets for the 2015 Gator Baseball season are on sale and can be purchased online through GatorZone 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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