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College baseball preseason rankings: SEC leads with 11 in NCBWA top 30
By Andrew Olson
Published:
College baseball season starts up next week! With Opening Day in the SEC for Valentine’s Day, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its preseason survey with the top 30 teams and others who received votes.
The NCBWA preseason poll includes where all teams finished in 2024. For 2025, College World Series runner-up Texas A&M begins at No. 1, while defending national champion Tennessee is ranked No. 2.
Overall, 11 SEC programs are featured in the top 30, including 4 in the top 5.
| 2025 PRESEASON NCBWA DIVISION I POLL (FEB. 3) | ||||
| Rk. | School | Conference | Record | Pvs. |
| 1. | Texas A&M | SEC | 53-15 | 2 |
| 2. | Tennessee | SEC | 60-13 | 1 |
| 3. | Virginia | ACC | 50-15 | 7 |
| 4. | LSU | SEC | 43-23 | 25 |
| 5. | Arkansas | SEC | 44-16 | 18 |
| 6. | Florida State | ACC | 49-17 | 3 |
| 7. | Oregon State | Pac-12 | 45-16 | 10 |
| 8. | North Carolina | ACC | 48-16 | 6 |
| 9. | Clemson | ACC | 44-16 | 9 |
| 10. | Florida | SEC | 36-30 | 5 |
| 11. | Duke | ACC | 40-20 | 24 |
| 12. | Oregon | Big Ten | 40-20 | 12 |
| 13. | Georgia | SEC | 43-17 | 11 |
| 14. | Vanderbilt | SEC | 38-23 | NR |
| 15. | NC State | ACC | 38-23 | 8 |
| 15. | Wake Forest | ACC | 38-22 | NR |
| 17. | Texas | SEC | 36-24 | NR |
| 18. | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | 42-19 | 19 |
| 19. | Mississippi State | SEC | 40-23 | 23 |
| 20. | DBU | CUSA | 45-15 | NR |
| 21. | Arizona | Big 12 | 36-23 | NR |
| 22. | UC Santa Barbara | Big West | 44-14 | 22 |
| 23. | TCU | Big 12 | 33-21 | NR |
| 24. | Nebraska | Big Ten | 40-22 | NR |
| 25. | Indiana | Big Ten | 33-26-1 | NR |
| 26. | Kentucky | SEC | 46-16 | 4 |
| 27. | Southern Miss | Sun Belt | 43-20 | NR |
| 28. | Troy | Sun Belt | 37-22 | NR |
| 29. | West Virginia | Big 12 | 36-24 | 13 |
| 30. | Oklahoma | SEC | 40-21 | 20 |
| Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically):Alabama (33-24), Arizona State (32-26), Auburn (27-26), Bethune-Cookman (32-27), California (36-19), Cal State Fullerton (16-38), Charleston (41-14), Coastal Carolina (36-25), Connecticut (35-26), Creighton (35-17), East Carolina (46-17), Evansville (39-26), Georgia Tech (33-25), Illinois (35-21), Indiana State (44-15), Iowa (31-23), Jackson State (35-20), James Madison (36-25), Kansas (31-23), Kansas State (35-26), Louisiana (42-20), Louisiana Tech , (45-19), Louisville (32-24), Maryland (34-22), Ole Miss (27-29), Penn State (29-24), Purdue (32-24), St. John’s (38-18-1), Samford (36-22), San Diego (41-15), South Alabama (31-25), South Carolina (37-25), Stanford (22-33), Texas Tech (33-26), UCF (37-21), UC Irvine (45-14), UCLA (19-33). | ||||
| Dropped out: No. 14 Connecticut, No. 15 Evansville, No. 16 Kansas State, No. 17 East Carolina, No. 21 UC Irvine. | ||||
| By conference: SEC 10, ACC 7, Big 12 5, Big Ten 3, Sun Belt 2, Pac-12 1, Big West 1, CUSA 1. | ||||
The NCBWA is one of the most prominent nationally recognized polls along with D1Baseball, Baseball America, USA TODAY, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game. Opening Day for the 2025 college baseball season is set for Valentine’s Day. Conference play in the SEC begins March 14 and wraps up May 15-17 before the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama (May 20-25).
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
