Here's where LSU baseball ranked in preseason USA Today Sports Coaches Poll
LSU baseball landed at No. 2 in the USA Today Sports Coaches Preseason Poll released Tuesday.
The Tigers received 11 first-place votes and rank behind Wake Forest, who picked up 15 first-place votes. LSU is in front of two fellow Southeastern Conference teams in Florida at No. 3 and Arkansas at No. 4.
Entering the 2024 season coming off the College World Series championship in 2023, coach Jay Johnson and LSU are a consensus top-4 team.
The Tigers' climb to repeat will be tough losing Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews, the top two picks in last summer's MLB Draft, but they do welcome back stars Tommy White at third base and Thatcher Hurd on the mound, both preseason All-Americans.
LSU attacked the transfer portal to fill spots, highlighted by Alabama ace Luke Holman, Arizona outfielder Mac Bingham, South Carolina shortstop Michael Braswell among several others. D1 Baseball ranked Johnson and the staff's portal haul No. 2 in the country behind Wake Forest.
LSU SECOND BEST TRANSFER CLASS LSU baseball transfer portal class ranked No. 2 by D1 Baseball
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The Tigers open the 2024 season against VMI at Alex Box Stadium on Feb. 16 (2 p.m., SEC Network+).
USA Today Sports Coaches Poll
1. Wake Forest
2. LSU
3. Florida
4. Arkansas
5. TCU
6. Vanderbilt
7. Oregon State
8. Tennessee
9. Clemson
10. Texas A&M
11. Virginia
12. East Carolina
13. Texas
14. Duke
15. North Carolina
16. North Carolina State
17. Alabama
T-18. UC-Santa Barbara
T-18. Coastal Carorlina
20. Iowa
21. South Carolina
22. Texas Tech
23. Stanford
24. UCLA
25. Northeastern
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Here's where LSU baseball ranked in preseason USA Today Coaches Poll