NEW ORLEANS — Following a banner 2022 campaign in which it joined the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 as 1-of-5 conferences with four-or-more teams in the NCAA field, the Sun Belt is well-represented in the national preseason polls.
Seven of 14 Sun Belt baseball programs—including newcomers Southern Miss and Old Dominion—were noted in at least one of the five major national preseason polls.
Southern Miss, which hosted a NCAA Baseball Regional and Super Regional a year ago, was ranked among the Top 25 in every major preseason poll. The Golden Eagles were listed as high as No. 18 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and D1Baseball, while also earning nods in the USA Today Sports Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll (No. 19), the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason Poll (No. 20) and the Baseball America Preseason Top 25 (No. 21).
2022 NCAA Baseball Regional host Georgia Southern was also listed at No. 35 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, which ranks the Top 50 teams in its preseason edition, and received votes in both the NCBWA and USA Today Sports Baseball Coaches preseason ledgers.
The Sun Belt Conference fell one game short of sending a team to a Super Regional for the fourth and fifth time since 2014 a year ago—with both Coastal Carolina and Texas State reaching their respective regional finals.
Both the Chanticleers and Bobcats received votes in all three preseason polls that publish a receiving votes category—Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, NCBWA and USA Today Sports Baseball Coaches.
Louisiana, the Sun Belt’s fourth postseason participant from 2022, earned preseason mention from both Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and NCBWA.
Old Dominion—which was among the last four teams left out of last year’s NCAA field—and Troy—which advanced to last year’s Sun Belt Baseball Championship semifinals—received votes in the NCBWA preseason publication.
The Sun Belt boasted the No. 6 conference RPI in the nation in 2022—trailing only the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA. Four current Sun Belt programs were listed among the Top 30 in the final RPI in 2022—No. 20 Texas State, No. 22 Southern Miss, No. 25 Georgia Southern and No. 29 Coastal Carolina.
No. 46 Old Dominion, No. 54 Louisiana, No. 73 South Alabama, No. 97 Georgia State and No. 100 Troy gave the new-look Sun Belt nine teams among the Top 100 at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign.
Sun Belt baseball programs have earned 18 NCAA berths over the past 10 seasons.
NATIONAL PRESEASON POLLS
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll (Dec. 20)
No. 18 Southern Miss
No. 35 Georgia Southern
RV Coastal Carolina
RV Texas State
RV Louisiana
D1Baseball Preseason Top 25 (Jan. 17)
No. 18 Southern Miss
Baseball America Preseason Top 25 (Jan. 23)
No. 21 Southern Miss
NCBWA Preseason Poll (Jan. 31)
No. 20 Southern Miss
RV Coastal Carolina
RV Georgia Southern
RV Louisiana
RV Old Dominion
RV Texas State
RV Troy
USA Today Sports Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll (Feb. 2)
No. 19 Southern Miss
RV Texas State
RV Georgia Southern
RV Coastal Carolina