LOUISVILLE, KY (1/27/12)—The Louisville baseball team gained its third national ranking of the preseason on Thursday when the Cardinals were positioned at No. 24 in the USA Today/ESPN Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
Earlier this week, U of L was ranked 24th in the Baseball America Preseason Top 25, while last month, the Cardinals were slotted at No. 15 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper preseason poll. The Cardinals, who have earned a preseason ranking in four straight seasons, are one of two current BIG EAST Conference teams in the preseason coaches’ poll with St. John’s ranked 21st. As was the case in the previous two polls, Florida is the top-ranked team in the coaches’ poll.
The Cardinals, led by the return of preseason All-American pitcher and All-BIG EAST performer Justin Amlung, welcome back nearly the entire pitching staff and numerous position players with starting experience from last year's squad. Overall, Louisville returns 19 letterwinners from the 2011 team, which finished 32-29 overall.
Head coach Dan McDonnell enters his sixth season leading the Louisville baseball program. In his five previous seasons, McDonnell is 217-106 with two BIG EAST regular-season titles, two BIG EAST Tournament titles, four NCAA Regionals, two NCAA Super Regionals and one College World Series.
The Cards will officially open practice for 2012 this weekend with a pair of open scrimmages at Jim Patterson Stadium. The first scrimmage is scheduled for Friday at 2:30 p.m., ET, while the second scrimmage is set for Saturday at 11 a.m.
Louisville will open the 2012 season on Feb. 17 against Minnesota in Clearwater, Fla., on day one of the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge. The Cardinals’ home-opener at Jim Patterson Stadium is set for Feb. 22 against Eastern Kentucky.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
2012 USA Today/ESPN Preseason Coaches’ Poll
<Team (First-place votes) - 2011 Record - Final 2011 Ranking>
1 Florida (17) - 53-19 - 2
2 South Carolina - 55-14 - 1
3 Stanford - 35-22 - 13
4 North Carolina - 51-16 - 5
5 Texas - 49-19 - 7
6 Texas A&M - 47-22 - 6
7 Rice - 42-21 - 21
8 Arkansas - 40-22 - 23
9 Florida State - 46-19 - 9
10 Georgia Tech - 42-21 - 20
11 TCU - 43-19 - 19
12 Vanderbilt - 54-12 - 3
13 Miami (Fla.) - 38-23 - 24
14 LSU - 36-20 - NR
15 Oklahoma - 41-19 - NR
16 Cal State Fullerton - 41-17 - 17
17 Virginia - 56-12 - 4
18 UCLA - 35-24 - 22
19 Oregon State - 41-19 - 11
20 Arizona - 39-21 - 25
21 St.John's - 36-22 - NR
22 California - 38-23 - 8
23 Clemson - 43-20 - 16
24 Louisville - 32-29 - NR
25 Georgia - 33-32 - NR
Information provided by UofL Asst. Sports Information Director, Garett Wall
Posted by Luke Short—SurfKY News
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