Jan. 9, 2007

SAN DIEGO - With 28 new players on its roster and despite having to replace seven position starters and two starting pitchers, the San Diego State baseball team has been ranked 33rd in the country by Baseball America in its annual preseason poll. SDSU enters the season with a recruting class ranked 25th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball.

A total of 13 members of the 2007 Aztec baseball squad (including 10 newcomers) have been drafted by major league clubs during their playing careers and another pair earned junior college All-America honors last season.

During its upcoming campaign, San Diego State will face 10 teams that found a place among the top 50 in Baseball America's preseason rankings. Included in that group are UCLA (13), Cal State Fullerton (14), TCU (24), UC Riverside (26) and USD (29). The Aztecs will face the other five top-rated schools during its two in-season tournaments. They will take on San Francisco (32) and Baylor (37) at the Pacific Tournament, then face Oklahoma (35), Michigan (40) and University of San Diego ()46) during their own Aztec Invitational event.

SDSU opens its 2007 season with a three-game series at Cal Poly that begins on Friday, Feb. 2, at 6:00 p.m. at the Mustangs' Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo.

Baseball America NCAA Div. I Pre-Season Poll
  1. Rice (57-13)
  2. Miami (42-24)
  3. Clemson (53-16)
  4. Texas (41-21)
  5. North Carolina (54-15)
  6. South Carolina (41-25)
  7. Arkansas (39-21)
  8. Vanderbilt (38-27)
  9. Virginia (47-15)
10. Wichita State (46-22)
11. Tennessee (31-24)
12. Georgia Tech (50-18)
13. UCLA (33-25)
14. Cal State Fullerton (50-15)
15. Tulane (43-21)
16. Oregon State (50-16)
17. Nebraska (42-17)
18. Florida State (44-21)
19. Pepperdine (42-21)
20. Arizona State (37-21)
21. Evansville (43-21)
22. Oklahoma State (41-20)
23. Winthrop (46-18)
24. Texas Christian (39-23)
25. Mississippi (44-22)
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26. UC Riverside
27. Georgia
28. North Carolina State
29. Southern California
30. Kentucky
31. Stanford
32. San Francisco
33. San Diego State
34. Oral Roberts
35. Oklahoma
36. Auburn
37. Baylor
38. UC Irvine
39. Louisiana-Lafayette
40. Michigan
41. Texas Tech
42. Central Michigan
43. Delaware
44. Elon
45. Notre Dame
46. San Diego
47. Ohio State
48. Miami (Ohio)
49. Texas A&M
50. Louisiana State