Baseball No. 22 in Coaches' Poll

NORMAN, Okla. -- The nation's coaches slotted the OU baseball team at No. 22 in the USA Today/ESPN preseason poll on Friday. The Sooners, were 43-20 last season and return 16 letterwinners from that squad. That group, along with 19 newcomers, reported for team practices today.

OU was also ranked No. 25 in the preseason by Collegiate Baseball last month. The last time Oklahoma started consecutive seasons ranked in one of the preseason top 25 polls was prior to the 1995 (No. 3) and 1996 campaigns (No. 14). The Sooners started last season ranked No. 16 according to Baseball America.

The Sooners finished second in the Big 12 in 2009, a half a game behind Texas, and hosted a regional with the a No. 7 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns were the only other Big 12 school to appear on the top 25 list, coming in at No. 1.

All of the praise comes despite OU losing nine players, eight underclassmen and two All-Americans, to the 2009 MLB Draft. OU will replace five position starters and the weekend rotation with 16 returning letterwinners, including a pair of All-Americans in Garrett Buechele (Big 12 Freshman of the Year) and Ryan Duke. In addition, the OU squad is bolstered by a talented recruiting class that was ranked amongst the nation's best.

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Duke headlines the pitching staff as a preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA. He is the first Sooner since David Purcey in 2003, now with the Toronto Blue Jays, to appear on a preseason All-America list.

Duke was named a third team All-American by the NCBWA last season after he led the Big 12 with 16 saves and ranked sixth in the nation in 2009. His save total is the second highest in school history behind Jeff Bajenaru's 20 recorded in 2000 and he ranks third all-time for saves in a career. Even more impressive, 10 of his conversions came in Big 12 play, a conference best a year ago.

Rank School (record) Points
1. Texas (50-16-1) 760
2. LSU (56-17) 721
3. Cal State Fullerton (47-16) 671
4. Virginia (49-15-1) 665
5. Florida State (45-18) 575
6. Rice (43-18) 547
7. UC-Irvine (45-15) 534
8. Arizona State (51-14) 497
9. Florida (42-22) 489
10. Georgia Tech (38-19-1) 484
11. North Carolina (48-18) 456
12. TCU (40-18) 367
13. Miami (Fla.) (38-22) 355
14. Oregon State (37-19) 350
15. Clemson (44-22) 334
16. Arkansas (41-24) 289
17. Mississippi (44-20) 249
18. East Carolina (46-20) 224
19. Coastal Carolina (47-16) 203
20. Louisville (47-18) 192
21. Ohio State (42-19) 131
22. Oklahoma (43-20) 127
23. San Diego (29-25) 95
24. Southern Mississippi (40-26) 94
25. Stanford (30-25) 79

Others receiving votes (with 2009 record): South Carolina (40-23) 75; Vanderbilt (37-27) 75; UCLA (27-29) 73; Texas A&M (37-24) 51; Georgia (38-24) 48; Minnesota (40-19) 48; Arizona (30-25) 33; Kansas (39-24) 24; Kansas State (43-18-1) 19; Wichita State (30-27) 19; Oral Roberts (33-15) 18; Pepperdine (31-23) 15; Middle Tennessee (44-18) 13; Fresno State (32-30) 9; Missouri (35-27) 9; Oklahoma State (34-24) 9; Alabama (37-21) 6; North Carolina-Wilmington (31-23) 6; Boston College (34-26) 5; Florida Gulf Coast (36-18) 5; James Madison (30-24) 5; Kentucky (28-26) 4; Long Beach State (25-29) 4; Cal Poly (37-21) 3; Gonzaga (36-18) 3; St. John's (30-22) 3; Florida International (34-23) 2; Jacksonville (37-22) 1; Nebraska (25-28) 1; Western Kentucky (42-20) 1.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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