TUCSON, Ariz.- Coming off the first College World Series appearance in 18 years, the Arizona baseball team will enter the 2005 season ranked 12th in the Collegiate Baseball Poll, the publication announced on Wednesday.
Texas, which will visit Tucson for a three-game series with the Wildcats on March 4-6, has been named the No. 1 team in the preseasonby Collegiate Baseball. No. 2-ranked Miami (Fla.), defending national champions Cal State Fullerton (No. 3), Tulane (No. 4) and LSU (No. 5) round out the top five of the poll. Arizona is scheduled to face the 2004 College World Series champion Titans in Fullerton, Calif., March 18-20, as well as No. 19-ranked Mississippi State in Tucson on March 11-13.
No. 6 Stanford is the highest ranked of the Pacific-10 schools in the preseason poll, followed by No. 11 Arizona State, No. 12 Arizona and No. 17 Washington.
Arizona, which finished last season ranked sixth by Collegiate Baseball after advancing to Omaha for the first time since 1986, returns much of its offense and defense, including junior outfielder Trevor Crowe (team-leading .350 batting average and 26 stolen bases in 2004) and first baseman Jordan Brown (team-leading 13 home runs and 57 RBI in 2004). Right-handed junior starters John Meloan and Kevin Guyette and sophomore reliever Mark Melancon return to the mound this season from Arizona’s 2004 CWS team.
Meloan, who became the first Arizona pitcher to complete a season undefeated since 1956 (10 or more decisions), was named third team preseason All-America by Collegiate Baseball in a separate release on Wednesday. He went 10-0 with a 4.66 ERA after moving into the starting rotation in the middle of the season last year.
Arizona will open the 2005 regular season on Feb. 4 against New Mexico at Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Collegiate Baseball 2005 Preseason College Baseball Poll
Rank 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
Italics denote 2005 Arizona Opponent
