Cards Baseball Ranked 8th in College Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll

Kind of surprising to see the Cards this high this early hopefully, they can live up to the billing. Coach McDonnell has got this program rolling. Here is the press release from UofLsports.com

Dec. 22, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. - The University of Louisville baseball team earned its highest preseason ranking ever and the second highest ranking in school history on Monday as the Cards debuted at No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper 2009 Preseason Poll.

The Cardinals earned 476 total points in the poll, while LSU led the way at No. 1 with 495 points. The No. 8 ranking is second only to the Cards' final 2007 national ranking of No. 6 (Collegiate Baseball, ESPN/USA Today) following their College World Series appearance that season, and is 14 spots better than last year's previous school record best preseason ranking of No. 22 by Rivals.com. It's also the second 2009 preseason poll to feature Louisville as Ping!Baseball ranked the Cards No. 20 in its preseason rankings released last week.

Louisville, the highest ranked BIG EAST team in the preseason poll, returns eight of nine position starters for 2009, including All-American third baseman Chris Dominguez. Third-year head coach Dan McDonnell's squad also returns a deep stable of talented pitchers, led by All-American lefty starter Justin Marks.

Last season, Louisville earned its second straight NCAA Championship bid after winning the program's first ever BIG EAST Tournament title. The Cards finished 41-21 overall in 2008 after being eliminated from the Athens Regional by eventual College World Series runner-up Georgia.

Dominguez (Miami, Fla.), who elected to return to Louisville for his junior season despite being drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies, was named to five All-America teams in 2008 and earned BIG EAST Co-Player of the Year honors after hitting .365 with a team-leading 21 home runs and 75 RBI. Marks (Owensboro, Ky.) was named to a pair of All-America teams and earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors last season with a 9-2 record, a 2.37 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 91 innings of work.

Both Dominguez and Marks were named to last week's NCBWA Preseason All-America team and both were named to the Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year Award Watch List earlier this month.

Also representing the BIG EAST Conference in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll is Notre Dame at No. 27, while season-opening foe Florida is ranked No. 25 overall. The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll dating back to the 1957 season.

Louisville will open the 2009 season with a three-game series against the Gators on Feb. 20-22 in Gainesville, while the Cards' 2009 home-opener is set for Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. ET, against Eastern Kentucky.

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's 
NCAA Div. I Pre-Season Poll
(As of Dec. 22, 2008) 
 
Rank  School ('08 Final Record) Points
1.  LSU (49-19-1)   495
2.  North Carolina (54-14)  494
3.  Rice (47-15)   489
4.  Georgia (45-25-1)  486
5.  Stanford (41-24-2)  484
6.  Arizona St. (49-13)  482
7.  Florida St. (54-14)  479
8.  Louisville (41-21)  476
9.  Texas A&M (46-19)  473
10.  Texas (39-22)   470
11.  Mississippi (39-25)  467
12.  Georgia Tech. (41-21)  465
13.  Cal. St. Fullerton (41-22)  462
14.  Oklahoma St. (44-18)  459
15.  Baylor (32-26)   457
16.  Fresno St. (47-31)  456
17.  San Diego (44-17)  453
18.  Miami, Fla. (53-11)  451
19.  Kentucky (44-19)   448
20.  U.C. Irvine (42-18)  445
21.  UCLA (33-27)   443
22.  Missouri (39-21)   440
23.  Pepperdine (38-21)  439
24.  Southern California (28-28) 436
25.  Florida (34-24)   435
26.  Clemson (31-27-1)  432
27.  Notre Dame (33-21-1)  430
28.  Coastal Carolina (50-14) 428
29.  Michigan (46-14)  425
30.  U.C. Santa Barbara (35-21) 423
31.  East Carolina (42-21)  422
32.  Missouri St. (40-17)  420
33.  Southern Mississippi (42-22) 417
34.  Tulane (39-22-1)  415
35.  Arizona (42-19)   414
36.  Wichita St. (48-17)  410
37.  Texas Christian (44-19)  409
38.  Oregon St. (28-24)  406
39.  California (33-21-2)  402
40.  Alabama (35-28)  398

OTHER TEAMS RECEIVING VOTES: Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Arkansas, Auburn, Long Beach St., Oregon, Virginia, North Carolina St., Houston, Kent St., Santa Clara, U.C. Riverside, Oral Roberts, Nebraska, Kennesaw St., Ohio St., Oklahoma, San Diego St., Tennessee, Mississippi St., New Mexico, Jacksonville St., Elon, Western Kentucky, Dallas Baptist, N.C. Charlotte, South Florida, St. John's, Winthrop, Purdue, James Madison, Marshall, Central Florida, Washington, Washington St., Georgia Southern, Northwestern St., Lamar, Texas-San Antonio, Southern, Louisiana-Monroe, New Orleans, Hawaii, San Jose St., San Francisco.

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