Jan. 3, 2002
The Notre Dame baseball team has received the highest preseason ranking in the history of the program-and one of the highest ever by a school from the Midwest/northeast regions of the country-as the Irish are listed fifth by Baseball America magazine in their annual preseason rankings, placing Notre Dame in elite status among some 280 Division I baseball teams nationwide.
Notre Dame-which rose to the No. 1 national ranking in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball magazine polls during the 2001 season–returns nine of its top 10 position players from the squad that set the team record for wins in a season (49-13-1). The Irish return their top five leaders in batting average from the 2001 offense that ranked 26th nationally in team batting (.322), plus seven of the top 10 pitchers (two of four starters) from the 2001 staff that ranked sixth in the nation with a 3.22 team ERA. The well-balanced Irish also finished 36th nationally with a .974 fielding percentage in the 2001 season.
The 2002 Irish roster also includes a highly-touted freshman class that recently was ranked first in the nation by Baseball American.
Notre Dame’s previous high ranking in any major preseason poll was ninth, by BA prior to the 2001 season. Just one previous Midwest/Northeast team has been ranked higher in the BA poll (which dates back to 1981), as the Barry Larkin-led Michigan squad was ranked third in the magazine’s 1988 preseason poll. Perennial national power Wichita State-which sits near the southwestern edge of the Midwest region-has been ranked among the top four in the BA preseason poll five times (unlike the more traditional Midwest teams, the Shockers open their home season in the month of February).
Stanford sits atop BA’s 2002 preseason poll, followed by Clemson, Miami (Fla.), Southern California and Notre Dame. The Irish are slated to face USC in a potential top-five matchup, on March 9 in Round Rock, Texas.
Two other teams on Notre Dame’s 2002 schedule cracked BA’s preseason top 25: 18th-ranked Arizona State and No. 25 Rutgers, which combined with Notre Dame to make the BIG EAST one of just six conference with multiple teams in BA’s preseason poll.
In addition to Notre Dame and Michigan, just three other Midwest teams (and none from the northeast) have cracked BA’s preseason top 10 in the poll’s 22-year history: Minnesota (10th in 1982), Illinois (8th in 1990) and Nebraska (9th in 1982, 10th in ’85, 5th in ’01, 8th in ’02). Michigan also was 5th in BA’s 1982 preseason poll and 9th in both 1985 and ’98.
BASEBALL AMERICA 2002 PRESEASON COLLEGE TOP 25 (italics — 2002 Notre Dame opponent)
Team … 2001 W-L … 2001 Final Rank
1. Stanford … 51-17 … 2
2. Clemson … 41-22 … 17
3. Miami … 53-12 … 1
4. Southern California … 45-19 … 4
5. NOTRE DAME … 49-13-1 … 15
6. Florida State … 47-19 … 10
7. Louisiana State … 44-22 … 9
8. Nebraska … 50-16 … 6
9. Texas 36-26 … NR
10. Tulane 56-13 … 5
11. Rice 47-20 … 13
12. Wichita State … 42-24 … NR
13. Georgia Tech … 41-20 … NR
14. South Carolina … 49-20 … 12
15. Cal State Fullerton … 48-18 … 3
16. Baylor … 37-24 … NR
17. Mississippi State … 39-24 … 19
18. Arizona State … 37-20 … 22
19. North Carolina … 31-26 … NR
20. Mississippi … 39-23 … NR
21. Wake Forest … 44-18 … 18
22. Cal State Northridge … 34-22 … NR
23. Oklahoma State … 42-22 … NR
24. Washington … 29-23 … NR
25. Rutgers … 42-17 … 25