Baseball Ranks Seventh In Baseball Weekly Preseason Poll
Jan 16, 2002 | Baseball
Jan. 16, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University baseball team received its third preseason top-10 ranking Wednesday afternoon as Baseball Weekly/ESPN ranked the Green Wave seventh.
The Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll is the official coaches' poll and is voted on by 41 Division I head coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association.Earlier in the preseason, Collegiate Baseball ranked Tulane third and Baseball America penciled in the Green Wave at No. 10.
The preseason ranking comes on the heels of Tulane's record-breaking 2001 season when the Green Wave led the NCAA with 56 wins and advanced to the College World Series for the first time in school history.
Tulane returns a wealth of talent for the 2002 season with 20 lettermen, six positional starters and seven of the top eight pitchers from last year's squad. Headlining the list are 2001 National Freshman of the Year Michael Aubrey, three-time first-team All-Conference USA honoree and 1999 National Freshman of the Year James Jurries, and senior southpaw Beau Richardson, who became the team's ace in the latter portion of the 2001 season. Also highlighting the list of returning players are 2001 Freshman All-American second-baseman Anthony Giarratano and New Orleans Regional Most Outstanding Player Joey Charron.
Last season, Tulane finished the year ranked sixth in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN final poll. The Green Wave was also ranked fifth by Baseball America and The Sporting News, and sixth by Collegiate Baseball.
First pitch for Tulane is slated for Saturday, Feb. 2 at 11 a.m. with the annual alumni game where current Green Wave players will take on former lettermen. The Green Wave officially begins the 2002 season on Friday, Feb. 8 when they travel to Malibu, Calif., for a three-game series with Pepperdine. Tulane opens its home schedule on Friday, Feb. 15 against Villanova at 7 p.m. at Turchin Stadium. For ticket information, call the Tulane ticket office at (504) 861-WAVE.
Baseball Weekly Preseason PollRanking School (2001 Record) Points (#1 votes) Final 2001 Ranking 1. Stanford (51-17) 1,011 (33) 2 2. Miami (53-12) 925 (6) 1 3. Southern California (45-19) 885 (1) 4 4. Florida State (47-19) 856 (1) 10 5. Clemson (41-22) 834 14 6. LSU (44-22-1) 809 9 7. Tulane (56-13) 794 6 8. Nebraska (50-16) 671 7 9. South Carolina (49-20) 617 13 10. Cal State Fullerton (48-18) 543 3 11. Rice (47-20) 531 12 12. Texas (36-26) 481 NR 13. Notre Dame (49-13-1) 465 15 14. Oklahoma State (42-22) 388 NR 15. Wichita State (42-24) 363 NR 16. Baylor (37-24) 359 25 17. Arizona State (37-20-1) 342 22 18. Mississippi (39-23-1) 330 NR 19. Georgia Tech (41-20) 323 21 20. Mississippi State (39-24) 271 17 21. Wake Forest (44-18) 261 19 22. Fresno State (41-25) 258 NR 23. Florida (35-27) 139 NR 24. Rutgers (42-17) 121 NR 25. Tennessee (48-20) 105 5
