RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros baseball team is receiving votes in
Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 50 NCAA Division I Preseason Poll presented by Big League Chew, which was released Tuesday.
The
Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll, dating back to the 1959 college baseball season. This is the first time since 1986 that the baseball program has been recognized in
Collegiate Baseball's poll, when legacy institution Pan American University was ranked No. 25 in the final season poll. UTRGV received votes in two National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) polls in 2021 (Feb. 22 and March 8).
"It's a great honor for our program to be mentioned with the best teams in the nation and speaks highly to how far we've come over the last few years," UTRGV baseball head coach
Derek Matlock said. "It's nice to be recognized in a preseason poll, but now we want to be in the poll at the end of the year because that means we're in the NCAA Tournament. That's what we want to do – win our conference and go to a regional."
The Vaqueros went 33-25 in the 2022 season and finished 17-13 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), earning the Southwest Division #3 seed in the conference tournament. The Vaqueros return 18 student-athletes from the 2022 season, including senior
Brandon Pimentel, who led UTRGV in seven offensive categories (batting average, runs, hits, doubles, homeruns, RBI, slugging percentage) and was named
Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week on March 7. Pimentel earned ABCA/Rawlings All-Central Region Second Team honors.
UTRGV opens its 2023 season on Feb. 17 with a three-game series against Houston Christian at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. The Vaqueros host six teams featured in
Collegiate Baseball's preseason poll, including No. 26 Central Michigan, No. 34 Houston, No. 36 Grand Canyon, Texas State (RV), California Baptist (RV) and Sam Houston (RV).
Collegiate Baseball's NCAA Div. I 2023 Pre-Season Poll
| Rank |
Team (2022 Record) |
Points |
| 1. |
LSU (40-22) |
498 |
| 2. |
Florida (42-24) |
495 |
| 3. |
Stanford (47-18) |
491 |
| 4. |
Texas A&M (44-20) |
489 |
| 5. |
Tennessee (57-9) |
485 |
| 6. |
Louisville (42-21-1) |
482 |
| 7. |
Arkansas (46-21) |
479 |
| 8. |
Miami (40-20) |
476 |
| 9. |
Vanderbilt (39-23) |
475 |
| 10. |
Wake Forest (41-19-1) |
472 |
| 11. |
North Carolina (44-22) |
470 |
| 12. |
Oklahoma State (42-22) |
467 |
| 13. |
UCLA (40-24) |
465 |
| 14. |
UC Santa Barbara (44-14) |
463 |
| 15. |
TCU (38-22) |
460 |
| 16. |
Virginia (39-19) |
457 |
| 17. |
Texas Tech (39-22) |
454 |
| 18. |
Southern Miss. (47-19) |
452 |
| 19. |
Oregon (36-25) |
450 |
| 20. |
East Carolina (46-21) |
449 |
| 21. |
Maryland (48-14) |
447 |
| 22. |
Mississippi State (26-30) |
444 |
| 23. |
Georgia Tech (36-24) |
440 |
| 24. |
Mississippi (42-23) |
438 |
| 25. |
Texas (47-22) |
435 |
| 26. |
Central Michigan (43-19) |
433 |
| 27. |
Oregon State (48-18) |
432 |
| 28. |
Virginia Tech (45-14) |
430 |
| 29. |
Rutgers (44-15) |
428 |
| 30. |
NC State (36-21) |
425 |
| 31. |
Connecticut (50-16) |
422 |
| 32. |
Florida State (34-25) |
420 |
| 33. |
Arizona (39-25) |
417 |
| 34. |
Houston (37-24) |
415 |
| 35. |
Georgia Southern (41-20) |
412 |
| 36. |
Grand Canyon (41-21) |
409 |
| 37. |
Auburn (43-22) |
407 |
| 38. |
Gonzaga (37-19) |
404 |
| 39. |
Georgia (36-23) |
400 |
| 40. |
Louisiana Tech (43-21) |
397 |
| 41. |
Dallas Baptist (34-24-1) |
394 |
| 42. |
Clemson (35-23) |
392 |
| 43. |
Oklahoma (45-24) |
389 |
| 44. |
Michigan (34-28) |
386 |
| 45. |
Davidson (43-13) |
382 |
| 46. |
Eastern Kentucky (38-20) |
379 |
| 47. |
South Carolina (27-28) |
375 |
| 48. |
San Diego (37-20) |
372 |
| 49. |
Alabama (31-27) |
368 |
| 50. |
BYU (33-21) |
364 |
Other Teams Receiving Votes: Washington (30-26), Arizona State (26-32), Notre Dame (41-17), Long Beach St. (29-27), Cal. St. Fullerton (22-33), Cal. Poly (37-21), U.C. Irvine (32-24), Florida Atlantic (35-23), USC (25-28), California (29-27), Coastal Carolina (39-20-1), Texas St. (47-14), Ball St. (40-19), Kent St. (24-29), Louisiana (37-23), California Baptist (36-20), Sam Houston St. (31-25),
UTRGV (33-25), Central Florida (35-25), Wichita St. (21-36), Tulane (33-26-1), Binghamton (22-30), Iowa (36-19), Illinois (31-22), Indiana (27-32), Campbell (41-19), S.C. Upstate (35-22-1), Creighton (31-18), Coll. of Charleston (37-20), Stony Brook (27-25), N.C. Wilmington (31-24), Canisius (29-25), Fairfield (31-21), Rider (28-26), Southern Illinois (44-16), Missouri St. (31-29), Indiana St. (26-22-1), UNLV (36-22), San Diego St. (18-38), Fresno St. (27-28), S.E. Missouri St. (37-22), Morehead St. (27-27), Tennessee Tech. (30-27), McNeese St. (34-23), Southeastern Louisiana (30-31), Virginia Commonwealth (42-20), Dayton (23-27), Lipscomb (35-23), Liberty (37-23), Wright St. (30-27), Pennsylvania (33-15), Central Connecticut (29-18), Coppin St. (24-30), Wofford (42-16-1), Samford (28-29), Mercer (40-18), Army (31-25), Oral Roberts (38-20), North Dakota St. (31-19), Alabama St. (34-25), Southern (27-31).
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