Jan. 13, 2004
The final two preseason national baseball polls have arrived a couple days early – and Notre Dame again sits among the top teams after checking in at 13th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America poll (NCBWA) while the USA Today coaches poll lists the Irish 17th heading into the preseason.
Notre Dame earlier was ranked 10th by Collegiate Baseball magazine and 19th by Baseball America and is one of 15 teams among the top 20 in all four preseason polls. The NCBWA writers poll appears to be dead on with its preseason top 15, which encompasses each of the 15 teams that were ranked among the top 20 of all four preseason polls: Rice, LSU, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Miami, Texas, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, South Carolina, Tulane, Arizona State, Wichita State, Notre Dame, Clemson and Baylor.
Nine of Notre Dame’s 2004 opponents were included among the writers and/or coaches preseason polling, led by: Arizona (19th coaches, 20th writers), USC (22nd coaches, “also receiving votes” from writers), Florida Atlantic (24th coaches, 25th writers) and Winthrop (ARV coaches, 30th writers).
Five other teams received votes but finished outside the coaches preseason top 25 and/or the writers preseason top 35: Minnesota, Michigan , Louisville, West Virginia and Rutgers
See complete polls below, in addition to links to all preseason polls and All-America lists that have been released to date.
(Look for continuing ND baseball “countdown to opening day” features in the coming days and be sure to regularly check the countdown story link on the und.com baseball page, as the tentative schedule will be in flux due to subject availability and time constraints).
Notre Dame – which is riding the nation’s third-longest active streak of seasons with 40-plus wins (15, dating back to 1989) – owns the nation’s No. 6-rated freshman class (per Baseball America) while returning the bulk of its offense and several top pitchers from the 2003 squad that repeated as BIG EAST Tournament champions (first team to do so since 1986), fashioned a 45-18 record and advanced to the final of the NCAA Fullerton Regional. The pitching staff also is set to welcome back Grant Johnson (missed all of ’03 due to shoulder injury) but his fellow junior RHP John Axford will miss the ’04 campaign after undergoing “Tommy John” reconstructive elbow surgery.
The 14 returning position players combined to make 89% of the offensive starts in 2003 while combining for 99% of the stolen bases (83 of 84), 96% of the triples (25 of 26), 90% of the hits (597 of 664) and runs scored (391 of 433), 87% of the walks (178 of 204) and 84% of the home runs (26 of 31) and doubles (97 of 115).
Top returners in the field (the only departed regular is graduated starting CF Kris Billmaier) include: Sollmann (.384, 40 RBI, 4 HR, 38 SB, 67 R, 16 2B), junior 1B/3B Matt Edwards (.376, 69 RBI, 8 HR, 16 2B), sophomore CF/RF Cody Rizzo (.314, 38 RBI, 4 HR, 53 R, 28 HBP), senior C Javi Sanchez (.303, 26 RBI, 1 HR, 42 R) and junior Matt Macri (.294, 35 RBI, 4 HR, 15 2B), who is slated to make the move from shortstop to third base in ’04.
Other probable starters include: junior LF/DH Matt Bransfield (.310, 10 RBI as last-season DH in ’03), sophomore SS Greg Lopez (.250, 26 RBI) and sophomore lefthanded-hitting DH Steve Andres (.269, 22 RBI, 4 HR). The Irish have many other options in the outfield, including sophomore Craig Cooper (.303, 15 RBI, 22 R, 10 SB) and his lefthanded-hitting classmate Brennan Grogan (.299, 25 RBI, 43 R, 15 SB – plus freshman CF prospect Danny Dressman (San Jose, Calif.), a 5-9, 175-pound lefthanded hitter, and his classmate Chris Fournier (Fairfield, Conn.), a 5-11, 200-pound hot-hitting middle infield prospect.
Freshman Mike Dury (Indianapolis, Ind.), a 6-5, 225-pound switch hitter, also could see some time at first base while 6-0, 170-pound freshman catcher Sean Gaston (Brownsburg, Ind.) could showcase his stellar defense and lefthanded bat (Sanchez is the team’s top utility infielder and could make regular shifts to shortstop, second or third). Another lefthanded hitter, senior 1B Joe Thaman (.280, 1 HR, 23 RBI in ’03), also returns but will have a primary role on the mound, in his first college season as a pitcher.
The 2004 staff’s eight returning healthy pitchers (including Johnson, with his ’02 stats) combined for a 3.23 ERA and 28-8 record in their previous season with the Irish, with their other combined stats from the past season including two saves, 290 strikeouts, 115 walks and 318 hits allowed in 334 innings.
Niesel’s All-America 2003 season included a 2.65 ERA and 9-1 record (87 Ks, 18 BB, 86 H, .232 opp. batting avg. in 98.1 IP) while Johnson’s Freshman All-America effort in 2002 featured a 3.46 ERA and 9-5 record (86 Ks, 44 BB, 94 H, .249 avg. in 101.1 IP). Other top returners from ’03 include the lofty sophomore tandem of 7-foot-1 RHP Ryan Doherty (2.20, 2-2, SV, 44 Ks, 11 BB, 21 H, .200 in 28.2 IP) and 6-6 LHP Tom Thornton (1.81, 5-1, 29 Ks, 14 BB, 54 H, .269, 54.2 IP), with Doherty a top candidate to fill the closer role held by 2003 graduate J.P .Gagne. The Irish will be without the services of Axford, who posted a 4.31 ERA and 9-3 record in ’03 (69 Ks, 50 BB, 63 H, .245, 71.0 IP).
Several freshman pitchers are expected to play key roles in 2004, led by a trio of All-Americans – 6-1, 175-pounder Jeff Manship (San Antonio, Texas), 6-2, 205-pound Derik Olvey (Pelham, Ala.) and 6-3, 250-pound two-way threat Chris Vasami (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) – plus two other RHPs in 6-5, 210-pound Dan Kapala (Royal Oak, Mich.) and 6-3, 215-pound Jess Stewart (Manassas, Va.).
Here are links to the preseason polls and All-America teams:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top25.html (note that the complete preseason top-50 is included in harcopy editions and also is listed at http://und.ocsn.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/010504aab.html)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/baseball/usatpoll.htm
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/040102preseasonaa.html
http://www.baseballnews.com/polls/divI/currentpolldivI.htm
http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/news/2004/poll040112.html
http://www.baseballnews.com/allamericans/currentallamericans.htm
http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/news/2004/allamerica031111.html
http://www.bigeast.org/sports/baseball/releases/12-3-03.asp
Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 Coaches’ Poll
The preseason 2004 Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 College Coaches’ Poll as selected by 40 Division I coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Rank, school (first-place votes) … ’03 W-L-T (voting pts.; final ’03 poll)
1. Rice (39)…58-12- (997; 1)
2. Miami (Fla.) (1)…45-17-1 (917; 5)
3. LSU…45-22-1 (896; 6)
4. Stanford…51-18-0 (846; 2)
5. CS Fullerton…50-16-0 (818; 3)
6. Texas…50-20-0 (805; 4)
7. Georgia Tech…44-18-0 (765; 16)
8. South Carolina…45-22-0 (634; 7)
9. Long Beach State…41-20-0 (624; 10)
10. Arizona State…54-14-0 (555; 9)
11. Baylor…45-23-0 (510; 13)
12. Tulane…44-19 (487; NR)
13. Clemson…39-22-0 (481; NR)
14. Wichita State…49-27-0 (427; NR)
15. Auburn…42-21-0 (384; 17)
16. North Carolina…42-23-0 (353; 21)
17. Notre Dame…45-18-0 (339; NR)
18. Florida State…54-13-1 (337; 8)
19. Arizona…35-23-0 (264; NR)
20. Florida…37-21-1 (234; NR)
21. Nebraska…47-18-0 (227; 14)
22. Southern Cal…28-28-0 (183; NR)
23. Mississippi…35-27-0 (153; NR)
24. Florida Atlantic…47-16-0 (146; 25)
25. N.C. State…45-18-0 (131; 12)
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M (45-19) 123; Washington (42-18) 68; Ohio State (44-21) 50; Mississippi State (42-20-1) 44; Nevada- Las Vegas (47-17) 38; Minnesota (40-22) 29; Southwest Missouri State (40-26) 22; Southern Mississippi (47-16) 17; Houston (37-30) 11; Alabama (38-24) 9; Virginia Commonwealth (46-13) 8; Arkansas (35-22) 7; Michigan (30-27) 6; Richmond (48-15) 6; San Diego (31-30) 6; Stetson (41-24) 6; East Carolina (34-27-1) 5; Virginia (29-25) 5; New Orleans (23-32) 4; North Carolina-Greensboro (39-21) 4; Winthrop (35-22) 4; UNC-Wilmington (40-23) 3; South Alabama (42-19) 2; UC-Riverside (41-17) 2; Coastal Carolina (45-18) 1; Fresno State (30-29) 1; Lamar (40-18) 1; Louisville (34-23) 1; Ohio (35-23) 1; Oklahoma State (34-24) 1; Texas Tech (30-25) 1; West Virginia (36-19) 1.
National College Baseball Writers of America Preseason Poll
Team (’03 record)
1. Rice (58-12)
2. LSU (45-22)
3. Stanford (51-18)
4. Georgia Tech (44-18)
5. Miami (Fla.) (45-17)
6. Texas (50-20)
7. Cal State Fullerton (50-16)
8. Long Beach State (41-20)
9. South Carolina (45-22)
10. Tulane (44-19)
11. Arizona State (54-14)
12. Wichita State (49-27)
13. Notre Dame (45-18)
14. Clemson (39-22)
15. Baylor (45-23)
16. Florida State (54-13)
17. North Carolina (42-23)
18. Washington (42-18)
19. Mississippi (35-27)
20. Arizona (35-23)
21. Nebraska (47-18)
22. N.C. State (45-18)
23. Texas A&M (45-19)
24. Florida (37-21)
25. Florida Atlantic (47-16)
26. Ohio State (44-21)
27. UNLV (47-17)
28. UC Riverside (41-17)
29. Stetson (41-24)
30. Winthrop (35-22)
31. Southern Miss (47-16)
32. VCU (46-13)
33. Mississippi State (42-20)
34. Southern (44-7)
35. Oklahoma State (34-24)
Also receiving votes: Auburn, Minnesota, Southern California, California, Alabama, Houston, Kansas, Rutgers, Texas-Arlington, Oklahoma, TCU, Pepperdine, Coastal Carolina, Richmond, New Orleans, Arkansas, Princeton, Vanderbilt, Illinois-Chicago, Tennessee, Missouri.