BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU is No. 3 in the 2017 USA Today preseason coaches poll released Thursday, marking the Tigers’ fifth Top 5 preseason ranking. LSU is No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game preseason polls, No. 4 in the Baseball America poll, and No. 5 in the D1 Baseball preseason ranking.
LSU is one of three Southeastern Conference teams appearing in the 2017 USA Today preseason Top 10, along with No. 2 Florida, No. 4 South Carolina and No. 6 Vanderbilt. SEC representatives Texas A&M and Ole Miss also appear in the Top 25 at No. 20 and No. 24, respectively.
TCU, which LSU will face on March 3 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, is No. 1 in the USA Today poll. LSU’s other non-conference opponents appearing in the poll are No. 16 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 19 Texas Tech.
The Tigers begin preseason practice Friday at 3:15 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. LSU opens the 2017 season at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 17 when the Tigers play host to Air Force.
2017 USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll
Rank School (2016 record)
1. TCU (49-18)
2. Florida (52-16)
3. LSU (45-21)
4. South Carolina (46-18)
5. Florida State (41-22)
6. Vanderbilt (43-19)
7. Oregon State (35-19)
8. Louisville (50-14)
9. Coastal Carolina (55-18)
10. East Carolina (38-23-1)
11. Cal State Fullerton (36-23)
12. Clemson (44-20)
13. North Carolina (34-21)
14. North Carolina State (38-22)
15. Arizona (49-24)
16. Louisiana-Lafayette (43-21)
17. Miami (Fla.) (50-14)
18. Virginia (38-22)
19. Texas Tech (47-20)
20. Texas A&M (49-16)
21. Stanford (31-23)
22. Oklahoma State (43-22)
23. UC-Santa Barbara (43-20-1)
24. Mississippi (43-19)
25. Rice (38-24)