BATON ROUGE — Defending NCAA champion LSU is ranked No. 3 in the 2010 Baseball America preseason poll released Wednesday.
Texas, the 2009 national runners-up, is No. 1 in Baseball America’s 2010 poll, followed by Virginia, LSU, Cal State Fullerton and Rice.
Other Southeastern Conference teams appearing in the magazine’s Top 25 include No. 7 Florida, No. 10 South Carolina, No. 17 Arkansas, No. 22 Georgia and No. 24 Ole Miss. The SEC ties the ACC for most among all conferences with three teams in the top 10 and six in the top 25.
Southern Mississippi, a 2010 LSU opponent, appears at No. 21 in the ranking.
LSU was rated No. 2 last month in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper preseason poll. Texas was also No. 1 in the Collegiate Baseball ranking.
“It’s great to receive this kind of recognition, and the polls create a lot of excitement for our fans, ” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “At the same time, we know that we have a season full of challenges ahead.
“We’re definitely anxious to get started. We feel like we have the players here who know how to win and contend for championships.”
LSU opens the 2010 season at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 19 versus Centenary in Alex Box Stadium.
2010 Baseball America Preseason Poll
Team 2009 Record
1. Texas 50-16
2. Virginia 49-15
3. LSU 56-17
4. Cal State Fullerton 47-16
5. Rice 43-18
6. Georgia Tech 38-19
7. Florida 42-22
8. UC Irvine 45-15
9. Florida State 45-18
10. South Carolina 40-23
11. Texas Christian 40-18
12. Coastal Carolina 47-13
13. Louisville 47-18
14. Arizona State 51-13
15. Clemson 44-29
16. Miami 38-22
17. Arkansas 41-24
18. East Carolina 46-20
19. San Diego 29-25
20. North Carolina 48-18
21. Southern Mississippi 40-26
22. Georgia 38-22
23. UCLA 27-29
24. Mississippi 44-20
25. Oregon State 37-19
NCBWA 2010 Preseason Division I Poll
Rank, School, 2009 Record-Final ’09 Poll Place
1 Texas Big 12 50-16-1 2
2 LSU Southeastern 56-17 1
3 Virginia Atlantic Coast 48-15-1 6
4 Cal State Fullerton Big West 47-16 7
5 Rice Conference USA 43-18 9
6 Florida State ACC 45-18 10
7 UC Irvine Big West 45-15 13
8 Arizona State Pacific-10 51-14 3
9 Georgia Tech ACC 38-19-1 19
10 Florida SEC 42-22 14
11 TCU Mountain West 40-18 11
12 Miami (Fla.) ACC 38-22 20
13 North Carolina ACC 48-18 4
14 Clemson ACC 44-22 15
15 Arkansas SEC 41-24 5
16 East Carolina C-USA 46-20 16
17 Coastal Carolina Big South 47-16 21
18 Oregon State Pac-10 37-19 24
19 Louisville Big East 47-18 17
20 Mississippi SEC 44-20 12
21 South Carolina SEC 40-23 23
22 Southern Miss C-USA 40-26 8
23 Ohio State Big Ten 42-19 NR
24 San Diego West Coast 29-25 NR
25 Oklahoma Big 12 43-20 18
26 Georgia SEC 38-24 26
27 UCLA Pac-10 27-29 NR
28 Texas A&M Big 12 37-24 25
29 Vanderbilt SEC 37-27 29
30 Stanford Pac-10 30-25 NR
31 Wichita State Missouri Valley 30-27 NR
32 Alabama SEC 37-21 30
33 Kansas Big 12 39-24 NR
34 Kansas State Big 12 43-18-1 22
35 Minnesota Big Ten (40-19) NR
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Army (26-21), Auburn (31-25), Bethune-Cookman (32-28), Cal Poly (37-21), Charlotte (33-22), Connecticut (36-24), Dallas Baptist (38-17), Dayton (38-19), Elon (41-18), Florida Gulf Coast (36-18), Florida International (34-23), Fresno State (32-30), George Mason (42-14), James Madison (30-24), Kentucky (28-26), Long Beach State (25-29), Middle Tennessee State (44-18), Mississippi State (25-29), Notre Dame (36-23), Oklahoma State (34-24), Oral Roberts (33-15), Pepperdine (31-23), Rhode Island (37-20-1), San Diego State (41-23), South Florida (34-25), Tennessee (26-29), UCF (22-35), UNC Wilmington (31-23), Washington State (32-25), Western Kentucky (42-20), Xavier (39-21) .
By conference: SEC 9, ACC 5, Big 12 5, Pac-10 4, Conference USA 3, Big West 2, Big Ten 2, WCC 1, Big East 1, Big South 1, MVC 1, MWC 1.