High preseason rankings given to UCI baseball

The UC Irvine baseball team has been ranked No. 9 in Baseball America’s Top 25 preseason poll and has been selected to finish second in the Big West Conference preseason poll, which is voted on by the conference’s nine head coaches.

The Baseball America ranking is the Anteaters’ highest preseason ranking since the program was reinstated in 2002.

The Anteaters have been to the postseason four of its seven seasons since the program was reinstated in 2002, making their first Division I College World Series appearance in 2007.

Cal State Fullerton, with 78 points, was picked to finish first in the Big West, while UC Santa Barbara (65) and Long Beach State (55) each collected one first-place vote and come in at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

UCI had 67 points and have its highest ranking in a conference preseason poll. After the 49ers, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (45), UC Riverside (41), UC Davis (26), Cal State Northridge (19) and Pacific (9) followed.

UC Irvine, led by head coach Mike Gillespie, opens the season Feb. 20 at Hawaii.

— From staff reports