MSU Baseball Receives More Top-10 Rankings

Starkville, Miss. (WCBI Sports/MSU Athletics) – Coming off its journey to the NCAA College World Series finals, the Mississippi State baseball program was ranked in the top-10 in Baseball America and Perfect Game’s preseason polls, each organization separately announced Monday. Perfect Game ranked head coach John Cohen’s club sixth, while Baseball America had the Maroon and White eighth. The polls come roughly one month after Collegiate Baseball ranked MSU second in its 2014 preseason poll.

The Bulldogs find familiar company in Baseball America’s top-10, having gone a combined 5-0 in last year’s postseason against BA’s preseason top-three teams. The Bulldogs swept preseason No. 1 Virginia in the NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional, eliminated Oregon State in the College World Series with two wins and defeated No. 3 Indiana once in Omaha.

Following those three, Cal State Fullerton, North Carolina State, Florida State and South Carolina come in before the eighth-ranked Bulldogs. The top-10 is rounded out by 2014 opponents LSU (April 4-6) and SEC East foe Vanderbilt (March 21-23).

Perfect Game also listed Virginia No. 1, followed by Fullerton, Oregon State, FSU, Indiana and then the Bulldogs, the top-ranked SEC team in Perfect Game’s poll. South Carolina, UCLA, Oregon and North Carolina State completed their top-10.