Baseball No. 3 in Preseason Poll

VU also ranked No. 8 and No. 11 in two other polls.

Jan. 22, 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. --Vanderbilt is ranked No. 3 in Baseball America's preseason Top 25 poll released today.

The Commodores return eight offensive starters from last year's record setting ball club. Vanderbilt posted a school best 54-13 ledger last year and captured both the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament crowns. They were ranked No. 1 for 13 out of 15 weeks during the year and hosted an NCAA regional for the first time ever as the No. 1 seed.

UCLA is No. 1 in the poll, which headlines a group of four Pac-10 schools in the Top 10. Only two other SEC schools are in the rankings with Mississippi at No. 4 and South Carolina at No. 12.

The Commodores will face No. 7 Oregon State and No. 9 Arizona State in the season opening weekend at the DeMarini Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. (Feb. 22-24). The Beavers are the two-time defending national champions, while the Sun Devils advanced to College World Series a year ago.

Vanderbilt is also ranked No. 8 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Poll and No. 11 in Collegiate Baseball's rankings.