Canespace: College Baseball 2014 Pre-Season Rankings Released

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Six Atlantic Coast Conference baseball teams, led by No. 1 Virginia, are ranked in Baseball America’s preseason Top 25 rankings.

The Cavaliers, who were picked by the ACC coaches as the league’s preseason favorite last week, earned the top spot in the poll for the first time in program history. They are joined in the Top 10 by No. 5 NC State and No. 6 Florida State.

With Virginia at No. 1, it marks the second straight season that a team from the ACC has held the preseason top spot after North Carolina last year.

Rounding out the ACC teams in the Top 25 are No. 13 Clemson, No. 16 Miami, and No. 17 North Carolina. The six league representatives are the second most from any conference in the country.

Miami will return its entire starting rotation in 2014, including Louisville Slugger All-American lefthander Bryan Radziewski and USA Baseball Collegiate National Team member Chris Diaz. The duo combined to make 30 starts this past season, and both finished among the top three in the ACC in earned run average.

Both Radziewski (29th round, St. Louis Cardinals) and senior righthander Javi Salas (38th round, Minnesota Twins) decided to return to campus after being selected in the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, while Freshman All-America David Thompson (.286, six home runs, 46 RBI) will help anchor a Miami lineup that returns seven starters from a year ago.

Joining the returning nucleus is a recruiting class ranked among the best nationwide. The group was rated No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 6 by Baseball America – its highest ranking from the publication since 2006. The Hurricanes have had two classes ranked among the top 10 by both publications in back-to-back seasons.