Oregon St. Ranked 24th in Pre-Season Baseball Poll

Oregon St. is ranked 24th in the Collegiate Baseball Pre-Season poll, which ironically is only good for a middle of the pack prediction in the Pac-12. The SEC, which has the top 2 teams, #1 Florida and #2 South Carolina, and the Pac-12 both placed 6 teams into the top 24.

Stanford is #3, Arizona St. #17, UCLA #19, Arizona #20, and California #22.The Beavers, who finished last season with a 41-19 record, and ranked #10 nationally, were expected to drop down, given the loss of the likes of pitchers Sam Gaviglio and Josh Osich, as well as Andrew Susac, Carter Bell, Parker Berberet, and Brian Stamps.

But the roster is far from bare, with Tony Bryant, who was named a pre-season All American, and Kavin Keys, a Pac-12 All-Conference player last season as a true freshman, as well as Jake Rodriguez, Matt Boyd, Ben Wetzler, and Ryan Dunn leading the returners.

Georgia, who Oregon St. beat to claim their regional, is ranked #18, and Vanderbilt, who beat the Beavers in the NCAA Super Regionals, starts the year ranked one spot, and just 2 points, ahead of them, at #23.

Cal-State Fullerton is the only other western team to make the top #25, initially in at #21. Oregon just missed, coming in at #27, but just 5 points behind #25 Clemson. UC-Irvine is at #29.

The Beavers open the 2012 season in less than 2 months, on Feb. 17 at UC-Santa Barbara, the first of a 4 game weekend series against the Gachos.

The home opener is March 9, against West Virginia.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com