D1 Baseball Staff Rankings – January 17, 2023
LSU is ranked #1 in the D1Baseball preseason top 25 for the first time in the rankings’ nine-year history. The Tigers have been ranked in all nine of D1Baseball preseason’s top 25 rankings, and this is their sixth appearance in the top 10 of the pre-season, with their previous high ranking coming in 2019 (#2). After finishing second in the Hattiesburg Regional a year ago, LSU has supercharged its roster by rolling up the nation’s No. 1 group in transfers as well as the nation’s No. 1 freshman league and bolstering a returning core, who was already well endowed with talent.
Fellow SEC clubs Tennessee (No. 2), Ole Miss (No. 4) and Texas A&M (No. 5) join LSU in the top five. The Volunteers won 57 games a year ago but were a win behind Omaha, while the Rebels won their first College World Series and the Aggies reached college baseball’s bottom four. No. 7 Florida, No. 8 Arkansas, and No. 10 Vanderbilt give the SEC seven teams in the top 10. No. 20 Alabama and No. 23 South Carolina bring the total number of SEC teams in the rankings to nine, leading all conferences.
Stanford, who has two consecutive CWS appearances under his belt, leads three Pac-12 teams and finishes at No. 3. UCLA is at No. 17 and Oregon is at No. 25.
No. 6 Wake Forest leads a group of seven ACC teams in the top 25. No. 12 North Carolina, No. 14 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Louisville, No. 19 Virginia, No. 21 NC State and No. 22 Miami join the Demon Deacons in the rankings.
Ninth-ranked Oklahoma State is the top Big 12 team in the rankings, followed by No. 15 TCU and No. 24 Texas Tech.
Other top-25 teams include No. 11 East Carolina (American Athletic Conference), No. 13 Maryland (Big Ten) and No. 18 Southern Miss (Sun Belt), all of whom hosted regional championships last year, each with the Pirates and the Golden Eagles rise to superstardom.
D1Baseball editors and national writers determine the top 25 rankings.
SEE ALSO: Top 50 Transfers | Top 51-60 Transfers | Top 100 Prospects | Check out SEC Extra!