Jan. 13, 2004

LAS VEGAS - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its 2004 preseason poll with UNLV ranked in the No. 27 spot.

The NCBWA continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the seventh year with its 2004 weekly surveys. Weekly polls will continue from Feb. 2-June 30, 2004, following the NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb.

The initial poll of the 2004 season has representation by eight different conferences and top independents among the 285 baseball-playing schools in the NCAA Division I ranks.

Rank/School (2003 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. North Carolina 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. Virginia Commonwealth (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.