The Rice baseball team is ranked number 15 in the country in Collegiate Baseball Magazine's 2005 preseason poll, the publication announced on Wednesday.
The Owls return six starting position players and a total of 16 letterman, including seven pitchers, from last season's Western Athletic Conference Championship/NCAA Regional team that finished 46-14 overall. A sizeable list of 23 newcomers, with six experienced players from the junior college ranks, have joined the Blue and Gray for 2005.
Collegiate Baseball is annually the first of the sport's four major preseason rankings. It is college baseball's oldest ranking, dating back to the 1957 season. Rice finished tenth in the publication's final ranking of 2004. The full, 40-team, 2005 preseason ranking appears below.
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Div. I Pre-Season RankingRank School ('04 Final Record) Points Final '04 Rank
1. Texas (58-15) 497 2
2. Miami, Fla. (50-13) 496 5
3. Cal. St. Fullerton (47-22) 495 1
4. Tulane (42-21) 493 15
5. Louisiana St. (46-19) 486 8
6. Stanford (46-14) 484 9
7. North Carolina (43-21) 480 27
8. South Carolina (53-17) 477 3
9. Georgia (45-23) 475 4
10. Texas A&M (42-22) 472 16
11. Arizona St. (41-18) 468 23
12. Arizona (36-27-1) 466 6
13. Georgia Tech. (44-21) 462 11
14. Long Beach St. (40-21) 459 12
15. Rice (46-14) 458 10
16. Mississippi (39-21) 456 24
17. Washington (39-20-1) 453 21
18. Florida St. (45-23) 451 14
19. Mississippi St. (35-24) 447 NR
20. Notre Dame (51-12) 445 19
21. Clemson (39-26) 442 26
22. Florida (43-22) 441 18
23. Oklahoma St. (38-24) 437 NR
24. Central Florida (48-17) 433 25
25. Baylor (29-31) 430 NR
26. Wichita St. (49-16) 425 28
27. Virginia (44-15) 423 20
28. Winthrop (37-23) 420 NR
29. Pepperdine (30-32) 416 NR
30. Florida Atlantic (47-17) 413 30
31. Nebraska (36-23) 409 NR
32. East Carolina (51-13) 407 13
33. Arkansas (45-24) 403 7
34. Coastal Carolina (40-23) 399 NR
35. Michigan (34-26) 395 NR
36. U.C. Irvine (34-21-1) 394 NR
37. Texas Christian (39-26) 390 NR
38. Vanderbilt (45-19) 387 17
39. Stetson (36-23) 383 NR
40. Tennessee (38-24) 382 NR