The State of North Carolina Owns the College Baseball Pre-Season Polls
cbssports.com
College baseball season is about to be underway and from the looks of the pre-season rankings, the state of North Carolina is ready. When the first slate of games around the country will begin this upcoming weekend, North Carolina will have a total of five teams in the top-25 ranking. I don’t know if that’s a record for one state, but it’s tough to imagine any state ever having more than five ranked in the top-25 at any one time (maybe California or Texas at some point).
In the D1Baseball.com top-25 ranking, Duke comes in ranked at #15, NC State follows at #16, Wake Forest at #18, East Carolina at #21, and North Carolina rounds it up at #23.
The Baseball America poll also has Duke at #15, while NC State is #17, North Carolina #18, Wake Forest #20, and East Carolina rounds it out at #25 overall.
The two polls are very similar, with no team from the state in the top half of ranking, and all bunched up toward the bottom half. But even so, it’s very impressive to have five teams (four from the same conference) from the same state in the top-25. North Carolina and NC State have been pretty dominant in baseball for a while now, so seeing those two schools there aren’t a surprise. Even East Carolina has really good years fairly often. But Duke and Wake Forest are really starting to emerge onto the college baseball scene these last couple of years and it’s making the competitiveness and rivalries around the state even greater.
Now let’s see if all five of these teams can live up to their pre-season rankings. UNC will open its season against Middle Tennessee State this weekend, while Duke will play Army, NC State against James Madison, Wake Forest against Seton Hall, and East Carolina will play William & Mary. Let’s show the country how much baseball-talent we have here in the great state of North Carolina!
Garett