LSU ranked No. 16 in D1baseball Preseason Top 25

By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor

It’s hard to be both a top-20 team nationally and a middle-of-the-pack club in one’s own conference, but such in life in the Southeastern Conference.

LSU checked in at No. 16 in the D1Baseball.com Preseason Top 25 released Tuesday morning. The Tigers were national runner-ups last summer but begin 2018 looking to replace its entire starting rotation.

The thing is, that’s only good for eighth in the SEC, according to the D1Baseball poll. Defending champs Florida begin the season at No. 1 and are joined in the top 15 by No. 4 Arkansas, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 12 Mississippi State and No. 14 Vanderbilt.

LSU received a bit more respect in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll, which pegged the Tigers at No. 10 when it was released last month. That poll has four SEC teams ahead of LSU: No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 6 Vanderbilt and No. 8 Kentucky.