BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU is No. 5 in the final USA Today poll and in the final National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) rankings released Thursday, marking the Tigers’ fifth Top 10 finish in the past eight seasons and their third Top 5 finish in the past seven years.
The 2015 Tigers led the nation with 54 wins, and LSU advanced to the College World Series for the second time in three years and for the 17th time in school history.
LSU captured the SEC regular-season championship for the 16th time in school history and won the SEC Western Division title for the 18th time.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri was named the 2015 National Coach of the Year by the NCBWA, and he is a finalist for the Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year Award presented by the College Baseball Foundation.
Eight Tigers were selected in the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft, including junior shortstop Alex Bregman, who was the No. 2 overall selection in the draft by the Houston Astros.
LSU produced five players that received 2015 All-America recognition including Bregman, freshman pitcher Alex Lange, senior catcher Kade Scivicque, junior first baseman Chris Chinea and junior centerfielder Andrew Stevenson.
Bregman was one of four finalists for the Golden Spikes National Player of the Year Award, and Scivicque is one of three finalists for the Johnny Bench National Catcher of the Year Award.
Lange was named National Freshman Pitcher of the Year by Collegiate Baseball magazine and by the NCBWA, and he was voted SEC Freshman of the Year by the league coaches.
2015 Baseball America – Final Top 25
Rank, Team, Overall Record, Previous
1. Virginia, 44-24, NR
2. Vanderbilt, 51-21, 5
3. Florida, 52-18, 3
4. TCU, 51-15, 7
5. LSU, 54-12, 1
6. Miami, 50-17, 12
7. UCLA, 45-16, 2
8. Illinois, 50-10, 4
9. Cal State Fullerton, 39-25, 21
10. Louisville, 47-18, 9
11. Arkansas, 40-25, 20
12. Missouri State, 49-12, 6
13. Texas A&M, 50-14, 8
14. Maryland, 42-24, NR
15. Florida State, 44-21, 10
16. Louisiana-Lafayette, 42-23, NR
17. VCU, 40-25, NR
18. Houston, 43-20, 13
19. Oklahoma State, 38-20, 11
20. Southern California, 39-21, 15
21. Dallas Baptist, 46-15, 14
22. Cal, 36-21, 25
23. College of Charleston, 45-15, 18
24. Radford, 45-16, 22
25. Iowa, 41-18, 24
Dropped out: East Carolina, Arizona State, Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara
USA Today Coaches Final Poll
Rank, Team (First-Place Votes), Record, Points, Previous
1, Virginia (31), 44-24, 775, NR
2, Vanderbilt, 51-21, 744, 9
3, Florida, 52-18, 704, 3
4, Texas Christian University, 51-15, 680, 4
5, LSU, 54-12, 646, 1
6, Miami, 50-17, 610, 8
7, Cal State Fullerton, 39-25, 590, 26
8, Arkansas, 40-25, 549, 24
9, Louisville, 47-18, 504, 7
10, Texas A&M, 50-14, 479, 6
11, Illinois, 50-10-1, 455, 5
12, Missouri State, 49-12, 398, 11
13, Florida State, 44-21, 383, 10
14, Maryland, 42-24, 341, 33
15, UCLA, 45-16, 337, 2
16, Louisiana, 42-23, 251, 41
17, Dallas Baptist, 46-15, 221, 14
18, Oklahoma State, 38-20, 211, 12
19, Virginia Commonwealth, 40-25, 203, NR
20, College of Charleston, 45-15, 179, 16
21, UC Santa Barbara, 40-17-1, 123, 13
22, USC, 39-21, 97, 17
23, Houston, 43-20, 79, 15
24, Florida Atlantic, 42-19, 72, 21
25, Oregon State, 39-18, 68, 18
Others Receiving Votes
Iowa 67; North Carolina State 56; Rice 53; California 42; Arizona State 42; Radford 26; Michigan 20; North Carolina-Wilmington 19; St. John?s 15; Columbia 12; Notre Dame 6; Pepperdine 6; Coastal Carolina 5; Wright State 4; Nevada 2; East Carolina 1.
2015 NCBWA Final Poll
June 25, 2015
Rank, School, Record, Previous
1, Virginia, 44-24, 14
2, Vanderbilt, 51-21, 7
3, Florida, 52-18, 2
4, TCU, 51-15, 4
5, LSU, 54-12, 1
6, Miami, 50-17, 8
7, Cal State Fullerton, 39-25, 13
8, Arkansas, 40-25, 11
9, Louisville, 47-18, 5
10, Texas A&M, 50-14, 6
11, Illinois, 50-10-1, 3
12, Missouri State, 49-12, 9
13, Florida State, 44-21, 10
14, Maryland, 42-24, 15
15, UCLA, 45-16, 12
16, Louisiana, 42-23, 16
17, VCU, 40-25, 18
18, Dallas Baptist, 46-15, 17
19, Oklahoma State, 38-20, 19
20, College of Charleston, 45-15, 20
21, USC, 39-21, 21
22, Rice, 37-22, 22
23, Houston, 43-20, 23
24, California, 36-21, 25
25, UC Santa Barbara, 40-17-1, 24
26, Florida Atlantic, 42-19, 26
27, Oregon State, 39-18-1, 27
28, Iowa, 41-18, 29
29, Radford, 45-16, 28
30, Arizona State, 35-23, 30
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Auburn (36-26), Coastal Carolina (39-21), Columbia (34-17), East Carolina (40-22), Michigan (39-25), NC State (36-23), North Florida (45-16), Oregon (38-25), Pepperdine (32-29), San Diego State (41-23), St. John’s (41-16), UNC Wilmington (41-18), Wright State (43-17).