University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels No. 4 In USA Today Preseason Poll
January 27, 2012 | Baseball
Jan. 27, 2012
North Carolina picked up another top 10 preseason ranking on Thursday as the Tar Heels were tabbed No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll. Carolina earned 644 points in the poll, two behind No. 3 Stanford who the Tar Heels dispatched in the Super Regional a year ago.
Florida earned all 17 first place votes to claim the top spot, while South Carolina was picked No. 2 overall.
North Carolina is the highest ranked Atlantic Coast Conference school in the first poll of the year but the Tar Heels are joined by five other schools. Florida State and Georgia Tech round out the top 10 at nine and 10, respectively. Four of the six ACC Coastal schools were represented as Miami (13) and Virginia (17) were both among the top 25. Clemson was tabbed No. 23 in the first rankings.
St. John's checks in at No. 21 in the poll and will visit Boshamer Stadium for a single game on Feb. 28.
Carolina opens the 2012 campaign in three weeks as it welcomes in Xavier for a three-game set with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17.
2012 USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll
| Rank | School | Record | Points | '11 Rank |
| 1 | Florida (17) | 53-19 | 759 | 2 |
| 2 | South Carolina | 55-14 | 740 | 1 |
| 3 | Stanford | 35-22 | 646 | 13 |
| 4 | North Carolina | 51-16 | 644 | 5 |
| 5 | Texas | 49-19 | 629 | 7 |
| 6 | Texas A&M | 47-22 | 608 | 6 |
| 7 | Rice | 42-21 | 533 | 21 |
| 8 | Arkansas | 40-22 | 470 | 23 |
| 9 | Florida State | 46-19 | 469 | 9 |
| 10 | Georgia Tech | 42-21 | 453 | 20 |
| 11 | TCU | 43-19 | 420 | 19 |
| 12 | Vanderbilt | 54-12 | 343 | 3 |
| 13 | Miami | 38-23 | 338 | NR |
| 14 | LSU | 36-20 | 333 | NR |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 41-19 | 281 | NR |
| 16 | Cal State Fullerton | 41-17 | 244 | 17 |
| 17 | Virginia | 56-12 | 218 | 4 |
| 18 | UCLA | 35-24 | 217 | 22 |
| 19 | Oregon State | 41-19 | 214 | 11 |
| 20 | Arizona | 39-21 | 210 | 25 |
| 21 | St. John's | 36-22 | 207 | NR |
| 22 | California | 38-23 | 181 | 8 |
| 23 | Clemson | 43-20 | 180 | 16 |
| 24 | Louisville | 32-29 | 176 | NR |
| 25 | Georgia | 33-32 | 151 | NR |
Others receiving votes: UC-Irvine (43-18) 102; Connecticut (45-20-1) 29; Mississippi State (38-25) 28; Baylor (31-28) 27; Dallas Baptist (42-20) 25; Oregon (33-26) 24; Stetson (43-20) 23; Southern Mississippi (39-19) 20; Fresno State (40-16) 13; Kent State (45-17) 13; Oklahoma State (35-25) 12; East Carolina (41-21) 9; Troy (43-19) 9; North Carolina State (35-27) 8; Georgia Southern (36-26) 7; Creighton (45-16) 6; Mississippi (30-25) 6; Missouri State (33-23) 6; Southern California (25-31) 6; Illinois (30-27) 5; Wichita State (39-26) 5; Alabama (35-28) 4; Belmont (38-26) 4; Coastal Carolina (42-20) 4; Pittsburgh (33-23) 4; Central Florida (39-23) 3; UNC-Wilmington (31-28) 3; College of Charleston (39-22) 1; Jacksonville (37-24) 1; James Madison (42-19) 1; Oral Roberts (39-22) 1; Southeastern Louisiana (35-22) 1; Stony Brook (42-12) 1.
The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2012 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John's; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; Barry Davis, Rider; Greg DiCenzo, Holy Cross; Mike Gaski, UNC-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Carlton Hardy, Savannah State; Donny Harrel, Seattle University; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; John Musachio, Oakland (Mich.); Bobby Pierce, Troy; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, UNC-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Jim Schmitz, Eastern Illinois; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.
