BATON ROUGE — LSU is ranked No. 3 in the 2004 Sports Weekly/ESPN baseball pre-season poll as selected by 40 Division I coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association.
The ranking represents LSU’s third appearance among the nation’s top three teams in a pre-season poll. The Tigers are ranked No. 2 by Baseball America magazine and No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
LSU, which returns eight starting position players and seven pitchers from its 2003 College World Series club, received 896 points in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll to place third behind No.1 Rice (997 points) and No. 2 Miami, Fla. (917 points).
LSU finished the 2003 season ranked No. 6 by Sports Weekly/ESPN.
Stanford is No. 4 in the 2004 poll, followed by Cal State Fullerton, Texas, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Long Beach State and Arizona State.
LSU’s 2004 opponents ranked among the Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 are No. 8 South Carolina, No. 12 Tulane, No. 15 Auburn and No. 23 Ole Miss.
SEC member Florida is No. 20 in the poll; however, LSU does not play the Gators during the ’04 regular season.
LSU opens the 2004 regular season at Central Florida on Friday, Feb. 13, in the first game of a three-game series.
The Tigers’ home opener is on Wednesday, Feb. 18, when LSU plays host to Louisiana-Monroe at 3 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium.
SPORTS WEEKLY/ESPN Preseason TOP 25 COLLEGE COACHES’ POLL
The Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 College Coaches’ Poll as selected by 40 Division I coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association.
| Rank, school (first-place votes) | W-L-T | Pts. | LW |
| 1. Rice (39) | 58-12-0 | 997 | 1 |
| 2. Miami (Fla.) (1) | 45-17-1 | 917 | 5 |
| 3. LSU | 45-22-1 | 896 | 6 |
| 4. Stanford | 51-18-0 | 846 | 2 |
| 5. CS Fullerton | 50-16-0 | 818 | 3 |
| 6. Texas | 50-20-0 | 805 | 4 |
| 7. Georgia Tech | 44-18-0 | 765 | 16 |
| 8. South Carolina | 45-22-0 | 634 | 7 |
| 9. Long Beach State | 41-20-0 | 624 | 10 |
| 10. Arizona State | 54-14-0 | 555 | 9 |
| 11. Baylor | 45-23-0 | 510 | 13 |
| 12. Tulane | 44-19 | 487 | NR |
| 13. Clemson | 39-22-0 | 481 | NR |
| 14. Wichita State | 49-27-0 | 427 | NR |
| 15. Auburn | 42-21-0 | 384 | 17 |
| 16. North Carolina | 42-23-0 | 353 | 21 |
| 17. Notre Dame | 45-18-0 | 339 | NR |
| 18. Florida State | 54-13-1 | 337 | 8 |
| 19. Arizona | 35-23-0 | 264 | NR |
| 20. Florida | 37-21-1 | 234 | NR |
| 21. Nebraska | 47-18-0 | 227 | 14 |
| 22. Southern Cal | 28-28-0 | 183 | NR |
| 23. Mississippi | 35-27-0 | 153 | NR |
| 24. Florida Atlantic | 47-16-0 | 146 | 25 |
| 25. N.C. State | 45-18-0 | 131 | 12 |
Dropped out: No. 11 Southwest Missouri State (40-26), No. 15 Texas A&M (45-19), No. 18 Southern Mississippi (47-16), No. 19 Mississippi State (42-20-1), No. 20 Ohio State (44-21), No. 22 Nevada-Las Vegas (47-17), No. 23 Richmond (48-15), No. 24 Houston (37-30).
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M (45-19) 123; Washington (42-18) 68; Ohio State (44-21) 50; Mississippi State (42-20-1) 44; Nevada- Las Vegas (47-17) 38; Minnesota (40-22) 29; Southwest Missouri State (40-26) 22; Southern Mississippi (47-16) 17; Houston (37-30) 11; Alabama (38-24) 9; Virginia Commonwealth (46-13) 8; Arkansas (35-22) 7; Michigan (30-27) 6; Richmond (48-15) 6; San Diego (31-30) 6; Stetson (41-24) 6; East Carolina (34-27-1) 5; Virginia (29-25) 5; New Orleans (23-32) 4; North Carolina-Greensboro (39-21) 4; Winthrop (35-22) 4; UNC-Wilmington (40-23) 3; South Alabama (42-19) 2; UC-Riverside (41-17) 2; Coastal Carolina (45-18) 1; Fresno State (30-29) 1; Lamar (40-18) 1; Louisville (34-23) 1; Ohio (35-23) 1; Oklahoma State (34-24) 1; Texas Tech (30-25) 1; West Virginia (36-19) 1.