Texas Baseball Ranked No. 1 in CB's Top-50 Preseason Poll
The Texas Longhorns were one of the best teams in all of college baseball last season. With a record of 50-17, the burnt orange were Big 12 regular-season champions and earned the No. 2 overall seed in the College World Series.
A heart-breaking, 4-3 walk-off loss in the semifinals to eventual champion Mississippi State left a pit in the stomach for coach David Pierce's team, but the journey back to Omaha could be well underway once the season begins on Feb. 18 against Rice.
On Monday, the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper released its 2022 preseason top-50 poll.
Texas reigned supreme at No. 1.
Despite losing a handful of players to the MLB draft like star pitcher Ty Madden (Detroit Tigers), third-baseman Cam Williams (Kansas City Royals), first-baseman Zach Zubia (Miami Marlins), and outfielder Mike Antico (St. Louis Cardinals), the Longhorns have retained a talented roster that should be capable of replicating the elite defensive success of last year's team.
Pierce managed to snag some talent in the transfer portal as well, as former Kansas Jayhawks' third-baseman Skylar Messinger will look to bring some experience to the infield.
Here's what the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper had to say about Texas.
"Last season the Longhorns led the nation with a team ERA of 2.93 and were fourth in hits allowed per nine innings by their staff (7.05). The Longhorns also return a talented defense that had the 10th best fielding percentage in the nation at .980. Texas had the second most double plays of any NCAA Division I team in the nation with 57. One of the top defensive catchers in the nation is back in Silas Ardoin. In 48 base stealing attempts last season, he threw out 20 runners. Offensively, Texas is led by Collegiate Baseball pre-season All-Americans 1B Ivan Melendez (.319, 13 HR, 13 2B, 51 RBI), 2B Mitchell Daly (.316, 15 2B, 31 RBI) and SS Trey Faltine (.249, 5 HR, 18 2B, 37 RBI)."
With a little under two months until the regular season officially begins, the Longhorns still have more preparations in front of them.
But it's clear what the expectation is: College World Series appearance or bust.
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