College Premium Blog

|

The North Carolina Tar Heels will enter the 2013 baseball season in familiar territory as the nation's top-ranked team in the Perfect Game Preseason College Top 25.

As a program that has competed for the national title in the College World Series title series twice in the last decade, the Tar Heels are very much used to a lofty ranking.

Now comes the hard part of meeting expectations. The Tar Heels have room to improve offensively this spring after hitting just .276 last season, but their situation is looking up with the return of several key cogs, including Preseason All-American third baseman and top prospect Colin Moran.

The most impressive aspect of this team is the pitching staff. The Tar Heels have a terrific weekend rotation including Benton Moss, Kent Emanuel and Hobbs Johnson. They also have yet another stellar bullpen with Chris McCue, Tate Parrish, Chris O'Brien, Shane Taylor, Mason McCullough and Luis Paula back for another campaign, along with Chris Munnelly, who will serve as midweek starter and spot reliever during the weekend.

The Tar Heels might lead the way, but they're joined by some outstanding teams in the top five with Arkansas (2), Vanderbilt (3), Stanford (4) and LSU (5) part of the group.





In terms of conference representation, here's the breakdown:

SEC: 8

Pacific 12: 6

ACC: 4

Big 12: 3

Big East: 1

Big West: 1

WCC: 1

Conference USA: 1





The Perfect Game Top 25 will be released each Monday morning throughout the college baseball season.



ALSO SEE: College Top 25 team breakdowns

Rank Team 2012 W-L Conference 2012 rank 1. North Carolina

46-16 Atlantic Coast 18 2. Arkansas

46-22 Southeastern

5 3. Vanderbilt 35-28 Southeastern

24 4. Stanford

41-18 Pacific 12 13 5. Louisiana State

47-18 Southeastern 11 6. UCLA

48-16 Pacific 12 4 7. Florida

47-20

Southeastern 6 8. Oregon State

40-20 Pacific 12 23

9. N.C. State 43-20

Atlantic Coast 12 10. Oregon

46-19

Pacific 12 10

11. South Carolina

49-20 Southeastern 2 12. Georgia Tech

38-26 Atlantic Coast

NR

13. Kentucky

45-18

Southeastern 21

14. Texas Christian

40-22 Big 12

14 15. Louisville 41-22 Big East

NR 16. Mississippi State

40-24 Southeastern 22 17. Florida State 50-17 Atlantic Coast

3 18. San Diego

40-17 West Coast NR 19. Mississippi 37-26 Southeastern

NR 20. Oklahoma

42-25 Big 12 15 21. Rice 41-19 Conference USA

19 22. Arizona

48-17 Pacific 12 1 23. Cal State Fullerton 36-21 Big West

NR 24. Texas

30-22 Big 12 NR 25. Arizona State 36-20 Pacific 12

17

Ten to watch:

Clemson, Texas A&M, Southern Mississippi, Miami, Virginia, Kent State, UC Irvine, New Mexico, Tulane, Baylor.