LOUISVILLE NO. 1 IN CB’S PRE-SEASON POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Louisville is ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I Pre-Season Poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Cardinals finished third at the College World Series last season and rolled to a 51-18 overall record.

Three exceptional starting pitchers return in Collegiate Baseball pre-season All-American LHP Reid Detmers (13-4, 2.78 ERA, 167 K, 33 BB), RHP Bobby Miller (7-1, 3.83 ERA, 86 K, 38 BB) and RHP Luke Smith (6-1, 4.24 ERA, 53 K, 24 BB).

Detmers is projected to be a first round pick in the MLB next June while Miller could be a first rounder as well with a good season.

Three quality relief pitchers also return in Collegiate Baseball pre-season All-American LHP Michael Kirian (5 SV, 3-1, 1.69 ERA, 26 AP, 42 K), LHP Adam Elliott (3-2, 2.48 ERA, 23 AP, 33 K) and RHP Jared Poland (2-1, 4.12 ERA, 16 AP, 25 K).

Louisville returns six exceptional position players led by Collegiate Baseball pre-season All-American 3B Alex Binelas (.291, 14 HR, 14 2B, 59 RBI), SS Justin Lavey (.286, 3 HR, 9 2B, 33 RBI, 20 SB), OF Danny Oriente (.332, 1 HR, 17 2B, 49 RBI), 2B Lucas Dunn (.309, 1 HR, 10 2B, 25 RBI, 15 SB), OF Zach Britton (.288, 5 HR, 7 2B, 28 RBI, 2 SB in 30 games) and C Henry Davis (.280, 3 HR, 5 2B, 23 RBI in 35 games).

Factor in one of the top recruiting classes in the nation of 18 newcomers, and Louisville will be loaded in 2020.

One of the trademarks of a Dan McDonnell coached team is speed on offense and defense.

In six of the last seven seasons, the Cardinals have swiped over 100 bases with a high of 150 during the 2013 season.

Expect well over 100 stolen bases in 2020 with the return of Lavey (20 SB) and Dunn (15 SB) plus the addition of two junior college transfers in OF Luke Brown from John A Logan College (66 stolen bases in 72 attempts, second in NJCAA Div. I) and OF Levi Usher from Kirkwood College (36 stolen bases in 38 attempts).

“I am excited about our 2020 team,” said McDonnell.

“Our team has a deep and experienced pitching staff. We have star power on the mound in starters Detmers, Miller and Smith. That is a terrific weekend starting rotation. Then we have three exceptional pitchers in the back end of games, including Kirian, Elliott and Poland.

“Also important to consider are the new pitchers from a year ago who typically make big jumps from their freshman to sophomore years. There are some other talented arms in RHP Kerry Wright, LHP Michael Prosecky and RHP Glenn Albanese, just to name a few. They are all draft picks or played in the Cape Cod League.”

Five teams from the Southeastern Conference are in the top nine, the most of any league in the nation. They include No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Mississippi St., No. 7 Georgia, No. 8 Auburn and No. 9 Arkansas.

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1959 college baseball season.

Collegiate Baseball’s

2020 Pre-Season

NCAA Div. I Baseball Poll

(As of Dec. 16, 2019)

Rank Team (2019 Final Record) Points 1. Louisville (51-18) 497 2. Vanderbilt (59-12) 495 3. Texas Tech. (46-20) 491 4. Miami, Fla. (41-20) 488 5. Arizona St. (38-19) 485 6. Mississippi St. (52-15) 483 7. Georgia (46-17) 480 8. Auburn (38-28) 477 9. Arkansas (46-20) 475 10. Michigan (50-22) 473 11. Louisiana St. (40-26) 470 12. UCLA (52-11) 468 13. North Carolina (46-19) 465 14. Florida (34-26) 460 15. Florida St. (42-23) 457 16. N.C. State (42-19) 455 17. Wake Forest (31-26) 454 18. Arizona (32-24) 452 19. Oklahoma St. (40-21) 451 20. Texas Christian (34-28) 449 21. Texas A&M (39-23-1) 447 22. Texas (27-27) 444 23. South Alabama (30-26) 442 24. Louisiana-Lafayette (28-31) 439 25. Stanford (45-14) 436 26. Cal. St. Fullerton (27-26) 435 27. U.C. Santa Barbara (45-11) 432 28. Georgia Tech. (43-19) 430 29. Minnesota (29-27) 428 30. Oklahoma (33-23) 426 31. San Diego St. (32-25) 423 32. Oregon St. (36-20-1) 420 33. Brigham Young (36-17) 418 34. Connecticut (39-25) 415 35. Houston (32-24) 413 36. East Carolina (47-18) 409 37. U.C. Irvine (37-17) 406 38. Central Michigan (47-14) 402 39. Ball St. (38-19) 399 40. Florida Atlantic (41-21) 395



Other Teams Receiving Votes: Southern Mississippi (40-21), Duke (35-27), Clemson (35-26), Virginia (32-24), St. John’s (31-23), California (32-20), Tennessee (40-21), South Carolina (28-28), Mississippi (41-27), Oregon (27-29), Washington (28-24), Alabama (30-26), Kentucky (26-29), Southern California (25-29-1), Creighton (41-13), Nebraska (32-24), Ohio St. (36-27), Indiana (37-23), Illinois (36-21), Baylor (35-19), West Virginia (38-22), Kent St. (30-24), Miami, Ohio (37-19), Dallas Baptist (43-20), Missouri St. (20-36), Fresno St. (40-16-1), Loyola Marymount (34-25), Tulane (32-26), Cal Poly (28-28), Rice (26-33), Bryant (40-20), Xavier (27-31), Seton Hall (25-28), Samford (41-19), Wofford (36-25), Nevada-Las Vegas (29-29), Nevada (30-26), Sam Houston St. (31-25), McNeese St. (35-26), Coastal Carolina (36-26-1), Texas St. (36-20), Gonzaga (31-24), San Diego (32-21), Pepperdine (24-25), Grand Canyon (36-24), New Mexico St. (38-17), Sacramento St. (40-25), California Baptist (35-20), Stony Brook (31-23), Binghamton (26-24), Liberty (43-21), Florida Gulf Coast (34-21), Jacksonville (32-27), Stetson (27-32), North Florida (32-25), Virginia Commonwealth (39-19), Dayton (32-26-1), Davidson (29-22), Campbell (37-21), Radford (30-27), N.C. Wilmington (32-31), College of Charleston (36-21), Wright St. (42-17), Oral Roberts (29-26), Harvard (27-16), Pennsylvania (23-18), Quinnipiac (30-29), Canisius (24-29), Florida A&M (27-34), Norfolk St. (24-26), Central Connecticut St. (31-23), Wagner (19-32), Jacksonville St. (39-23), Morehead St. (40-21), Army (35-26), Navy (39-17), Mercer (35-29), Southern (30-19), Alabama St. (28-26).

The Jan. 3, 2020 College Preview edition of Collegiate Baseball newspaper is now available which features top players from every NCAA Division I Conference and projected Players and Pitchers Of The Year in each league.

Plus, Collegiate Baseball has an in-depth report on the top 40 pre-season teams in NCAA Division I, the top 78 draft eligible college players projected to be chosen in the top two rounds of the 2020 MLB Draft next June and rundowns on each level of college baseball.

To purchase the Jan. 3, 2020 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe, CLICK HERE.