Collegiate Baseball Writers Rank Green Wave Sixth In Preseason Poll
Jan 28, 2002 | Baseball
Jan. 28, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University baseball team received its fourth preseason top-10 ranking Monday afternoon as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association ranked the Green Wave sixth in the 35-team poll.
The Green Wave are one of three Louisiana teams on the preseason poll, joining LSU which ranked three slots below Tulane at No. 9 and Louisiana-Lafayette which grabbed the 29th slot. Earlier in the preseason, Collegiate Baseball ranked Tulane third, Baseball Weekly/ESPN selected Tulane as the No. 7 squad, and Baseball America penciled in the Green Wave at No. 10.
"Preseason polls are nice, but there's a reason you play the season," head coach Rick Jones said. "Basically, our goals are the same as every year. We have to play well during the regular season to get into the NCAA Tournament and earn a high seed. And hopefully, we can play our best baseball in the postseason."
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, the Green Wave finished the year ranked fifth by Baseball America and The Sporting News, and sixth by Baseball Weekly/ESPN and 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.
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Preseason Poll Ranking School Final 2001 Record 1. Stanford 51-17 2. Miami 53-12 3. Southern California 45-19 4. Clemson 41-22 5. Florida State 47-19 6. Tulane 56-13 7. South Carolina 49-20 8. Nebraska 50-16 9. LSU 44-22 10. Rice 47-20 11. Wichita State 42-24 12. Cal State Fullerton 48-18 13. Texas 36-26 14. Notre Dame 49-13 15. Oklahoma State 42-22 16. Arizona State 37-20 17. Mississippi 39-23 18. Baylor 37-24 19. Georgia Tech 41-20 20. Central Florida 51-14 21. Mississippi State 39-24 22. Wake Forest 44-18 23. Rutgers 42-17 24. Ohio State 43-18 25. Minnesota 39-21 26. Purdue 32-24 27. Texas Tech 43-20 28. Cal State Northridge 34-22 29. Louisiana-Lafayette 28-28 30. Long Beach State 35-23 31. Texas A&M 33-27 32. Oral Roberts 48-13 33. Nevada 30-26 34. California 34-25 35. Ball State 34-23
