BATON ROUGE — The LSU baseball team is ranked No. 6 in the 2003 Collegiate Baseball magazine pre-season poll released Monday.
The Tigers, who return five starting position players and seven pitchers from their 2002 NCAA Super Regional club, received 484 points in the poll to place sixth behind No. 1 Texas (496 points), Florida State (493), Southern California (490), Rice (489) and Georgia Tech (485).
Cal State Fullerton is No. 7 in the 2003 rankings, followed by South Carolina, Stanford and Houston.
LSU plays host to South Carolina (April 5-7) and Houston (Feb. 21-23) in three-games series in Alex Box Stadium. Other LSU opponents ranked among Collegiate Baseballs Top 40 teams are No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 13 Long Beach State, No. 23 Tulane, No. 33 Georgia, No. 37 Southern and No. 40 Auburn.
LSU will play a total of 22 games against teams ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Top 40.
LSU infielder Aaron Hill and pitcher Jake Tompkins were also named third-team pre-season all-Americans Monday by Collegiate Baseball.
Hill, the Tigers shortstop last season, will likely play third base in 2003. The junior from Visalia, Calif., hit .329 in 2002 with 18 doubles, nine homers and 47 RBI. Hill played last summer for the United States National Team, helping lead the U.S. squad to the silver medal at the World University Baseball Championships in Messina, Italy.
Tompkins was a 2002 second-team all-SEC selection, as he posted a 7-1 mark and a 2.68 ERA, working primarily as the Tigers closer. The senior right-hander from Auburn, Calif., worked 87.1 innings, recording 96 strikeouts and 37 walks.
LSU begins the 2003 regular season on Friday, Feb. 7, against Northwestern State in the first game of a three-game weekend series in Alex Box Stadium.
2003 Collegiate Baseball Pre-Season Top 40
(2002 record in parentheses)
1. Texas (57-15)
2. Florida State (60-14)
3. Southern California (37-24)
4. Rice (52-14)
5. Georgia Tech (52-16)
6. LSU (44-22)
7. Cal State Fullerton (37-22)
8. South Carolina (57-18)
9. Stanford (47-18)
10. Houston (48-17)
11. Mississippi State (34-24-1)
12. Arizona State (37-21)
13. Long Beach State (39-21)
14. Miami, Fla. (34-29)
15. Wake Forest (47-13-1)
16. Richmond (53-13)
17. Baylor (36-26)
18. Clemson (54-18)
19. Notre Dame (50-18)
20. South Alabama (42-19)
21. Florida Atlantic (46-21)
22. Nebraska (47-21)
23. Tulane (36-27)
24. Southwest Missouri State (43-21)
25. California (29-27)
26. Central Florida (41-22)
27. Oklahoma (35-27)
28. James Madison (44-16)
29. Ohio State (38-20-1)
30. Wichita State (47-17)
31. Kent State (37-22)
32. Stetson (42-19)
33. Georgia (32-29)
34. North Carolina (43-21)
35. Texas Tech (42-20)
36. East Carolina (43-20-1)
37. Southern (45-10)
38. Florida International (41-20)
39. Oklahoma State (37-21)
40. Auburn (34-26)