PING!BASEBALL TOP 30 RANKINGS 2009 PRESEASON RANKINGS If you picked Fresno State to win the whole shebang last year raise your hand... If your hand is still up and you’re not Coach Batesole’s mother or someone else with kin on the club, you’re lying. The Bulldogs came out of left field to win the title and weren’t on anyone’s national radar to start the season. Heck, even the runner up Georgia Bulldogs were absent from all preseason speculation. Had they not been from the SEC whose inclusion gives them automatic legitimacy, they should have received nearly the same pauper-to-prince accolades doused on Fresno State leading up to the final weekend. Preseason rankings are one of the worthless traditions in sports. In the end they mean absolutely nothing. Nada. In college baseball a spirited run in May can make a cellar dweller a champion in a week’s time. A lucky bounce or fluke injury can have a way of altering a game and changing an entire season faster than a kid in a flying Lamborghini. With that being said, why do we keep releasing preseason rankings? Because this is the year we finally figured it out. Satellite TV and Internet broadcasts have made it possible to monitor every team from the Aggies to the Zips. All the past years of watching games and dissecting stats, the hours googling injury updates and scouting reports, and the making of clandestine calls to people “in the know” have finally paid off. We have computer programs to rank teams and calculate who would beat who in a head to head competition on a Tuesday in April while playing on grass when there is a Bob Evans within a five mile radius. Like modern Eli Whitney’s we have finally figured it all out and simplified it. This is the year the culmination of our sports experience has made us experts who have all the answers. So get that second mortgage. Hock your Hummel and Longaberger collections to drum up some extra cash. Take a second job working the evening shift at the morgue to get every buck you can. Take your money head to Vegas (or Reno so you see Shaun Kort and the Wolves play) and let it ride using these rankings as a guide! What you don’t believe us?! You doubt our Nostradamusesque prophesies? You think are preseason rankings are nothing but educated guesses mixed with voodoo? Yeah, us too… But it’s still damn fun to make ‘em.

DI College Baseball Preseason Rankings

Rank	Final 2008	Team	Comment
1	3		NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS Look for the Tar Heels to reach the series for the fourth straight year with their sights dead set on finally being the last team standing. more...
2	6		LSU TIGERS The Tigers will circle the base paths early and often as eight players with at least 125 at-bats will be back in Baton Rouge. more...
3	10		CAL STATE FULLERTON TITANS The high octane Titan offense is almost completely in tact from last season which will make them a favorite to make it back to Omaha for the sixth time since 2001. more...
4	14		TEXAS A&M AGGIES A&M captured back to back Big 12 and Regional titles in 2008. A three-peat for each crown should be in the forecast as the Aggie roster is stocked with athletes who know what it takes to win. more...
5	5		MIAMI HURRICANES The bulk of Miami’s offense has graduated to the professional ranks, but enough power still remains, led by shortstop, Ryan Jackson to outscore opponents. more...
6	2		GEORGIA BULLDOGS The losses of shortstop Gordan Beckham and closer Josh Fields are colossal, but not insurmountable in the Bulldogs’ endeavor to return to the College World Series. more...
7	21		TEXAS LONGHORNS Juniors Brandon Belt and Russ Moldenhauer, along with senior catcher Preston Clark will lead an up and coming lineup filled with the usual Texas sized talent. more...
8	7		FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES With Buster Posey and two top pitching starters gone from campus, a twentieth return to the College World Series won’t be easy, but it’s not out of the question. more...
9	13		UC IRVINE ANTEATERS Expect to see Eric Pettis and Daniel Bibona earn All American honors on the hill while senior Ben Orloff returns to lead a small ball offense that keeps defenses on their toes from the first pitch to the bottom of the ninth. more...
10	NR		GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS Like a survivalist preparing for the apocalypse, the Georgia Tech roster is stocked and ready for 2009. more...
11	8		RICE OWLS Rice made it to the CWS for the third year in a row last season and will be a favorite once again to return to Omaha in 2009. more...
12	NR		PEPPERDINE WAVES An experienced, balanced lineup also returns to Malibu, able generate runs at any spot in the order. more...
13	NR		OKLAHOMA SOONERS After finishing a game away from the playing for the Big 12 conference title and advancing to the final game of NCAA Regional play, OU is primed to make a run up the ratings this season. more...
14	28		OLE MISS REBELS The pitching staff was a strength for the Rebels last year and should once again be Mississippi’s ticket to the post season. more...
15	17		OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS The talented tandem of Andrew Oliver and Tyler Lyons returns to Stillwater and should make them a contender to return to Omaha for the 20th time in school history. more..
16	NR		AUBURN TIGERS A young team with a plethora of talent will take to the diamond next year with lofty goals and expectations set on playing well into the spring. more...
17	18		SAN DIEGO TOREROS An attempt to replace ace Brian Matusz would be a mission in futility, but the pair of sophomore Kyle Blair and junior closer AJ Griffin will help ease the pain. more...
18	NR		BAYLOR BEARS The young prospects whose talent spurred the winning forecasts last season have had a year to develop and will be looking live up to the hubabaloo that followed them onto campus. more...
19	NR		MISSOURI STATE BEARS The Bears return a roster full of talented players that can beat you in a variety of ways, including two MVC first teamers in first baseman Ben Carlson and pitcher Tim Clubb. more...
20	NR		LOUSIVILLE CARDINALS The offense returns all by one starter from last season, led by Herculean third baseman Chris Dominguez, a preseason front runner for national player of the year honors. more...
21	NR		ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS With a deep and experienced pitching staff led by Cape Cod League All Star Dallas Keuchel, the Razorbacks should once again complete for 40 wins. more...
22	9		ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS The amateur draft depleted the Sun Devils roster as fifteen players were selected. While the losses are mammoth, they’re not quite to the dogs-and-cats-living-together type hysteria. more...
23	1		FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS Not since B-Rabbit outrhymed Papa Doc at the close of “8 Mile” has there been such an unthinkable underdog story as the 2008 Fresno State baseball team. more...
24	NR		FLORIDA GATORS Despite a couple of sub-Gator standard seasons and a pessimistic forecast leading into 2008, Florida finished tied for second in the SEC East Division under new coach Kevin O'Sullivan. more...
25	16		COASTAL CAROLINA CHANTICLEERS The Chanticleers may not have the talent they possessed last season, but they’ll be armed with experience and the drive to go the next level which can take a team a long way. more...
26	NR		ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE Like a drunk uncle with a mug full of eggnog, the ‘Bama offense is loaded and ready to rock in 2009. more...
27	NR		TCU HORNED FROGS Eight Frogs earned selection on All MWC Teams last year and six will be back to play ball for the purple and white. more...
28	4		STANFORD CARDINAL Stanford’s best bet to get back to Rosenblatt will be to ride the coat tails of pitching prospects Jeffrey Inman and sophomore Alex Pracher, and emerging ace Drew Storen. more...
29	NR		NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH Notre Dame returns six offensive starters, highlighted by AJ Pollock who dazzled over the summer, taking home the Cape Cod League MVP award. more...
30	NR		UC SANTA BARBARA GAUCHOS Returning starters Mike Ford and Mario Hollands that could give UCSB the edge they need to position themselves as the team to beat in the übercompetive Big West Conference. more...