LSU Baseball Ranked No. 3 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

Tigers come in just behind Texas, Vanderbilt in the preseason polls ahead of the 2022 season

The hype around first year LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson and the 2022 Tigers continues to soar. On Monday, the purple and gold were ranked No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball polls, behind only No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Vanderbilt.

LSU returns some of the best hitters in the country in sophomores Dylan Crews and Tre Morgan, junior Cade Doughty and senior Gavin Dugas. But along with Johnson comes sophomore slugger Jacob Berry, who comes to Baton Rouge as one of the country's premier hitters at Arizona a season ago. 

The potential offensive lineups Johnson could roll out are extremely exciting but the growth from the pitching staff is what will ultimately make this team a contender to win the College World Series. Johnson has been very meticulous in not discussing a group of players who are in line for starting jobs, mainly because that competition will carry into the spring. 

Seniors Devin Fontenot and Ma'Khail Hilliard figure to be significant parts of the rotation while young arms like Ty Floyd, Blake Money and Javen Coleman all impressed this fall.  

The team is set to meet back on campus in January and immediately begin preparing for the 2022 season. The Tigers are set to begin their season on Feb. 18 with a weekend series against Maine. 

“I thought our work during fall practice was very productive; our players did a great job of being very coachable and buying in to the process of how we operate,” said coach Jay Johnson. “Our coaches did a good job of measuring and evaluating the players on our team, and we established a strong foundation to build upon going into the season. Right now, it’s important that the players take ownership of their development so that we can maximize our prep when they return to school next month. We’re really excited to get to that point.”

The full rankings can be found below:

 1. Texas (50-17) 

2. Vanderbilt (49-18) 

3. LSU (38-25) 

4. Texas Tech (39-17) 

5. Stanford (39-17) 

6. Florida (38-22) 

7. Oklahoma St. (36-19-1) 

8. East Carolina (44-17) 

9. Mississippi St. (50-18)

10. Notre Dame (34-13)

11. Georgia Tech (31-25)

12. Florida St. (31-24)

13. TCU (41-19)

14. UC Irvine (43-18)

15. Louisiana Tech (42-20)

16. Central Michigan (42-18)

17. UC Santa Barbara (41-20)

18. UCLA (37-20)

19. Mississippi (45-22)

20. Arkansas (50-13)

21. Oregon (39-16)

22. Arizona (45-18)

23. Miami, Fla. (33-21)

24. Virginia (36-27)

25. North Carolina (28-27)

26. Louisville (28-22)

27. N.C. State (37-19)

28. Duke (33-22)

29. Campbell (37-18)

30. Michigan (27-19)

31. Nebraska (34-14)

32. Dallas Baptist (41-18)

33. Georgia (31-25)

34. Tennessee (50-18)

35. Gonzaga (34-19)

36. South Alabama (36-22)

37. Liberty (41-18)

38. Maryland (30-18)

39. Connecticut (34-19)

40. Alabama (32-26)

41. Fairfield (39-5)

42. Oregon St. (37-24)

43. Arizona St. (33-22)

44. South Carolina (34-23)

45. Oklahoma (27-28)

46. Long Beach St. (24-15)

47. Cal Poly (31-25)

48. Southern Miss (40-21)

49. Old Dominion (44-16)

50. Nevada (25-20)