UCLA Ranked No. 12 in Baseball America Preseason Poll Bruins look to earn their third consecutive Pac-12 Championship in 2013.
Ryan Deeter

Ryan Deeter

Jan. 24, 2013

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Durham, N.C. - The UCLA Baseball team has earned the No. 12 preseason ranking in Baseball America's top-25 preseason poll, as announced by the publication today. The Bruins went 48-16 last season, winning their second consecutive Pac-12 Championship and earning a trip to the College World Series.

North Carolina earned the top spot in the preseason poll followed by Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Louisville and Mississippi State in that order. Oregon State, South Carolina, North Carolina State, Stanford and LSU rounded out the top-10.

Last month, Collegiate Baseball ranked the Bruins No. 5 in their preseason top-40 poll while Perfect Game USA ranked the Bruins No. 6 in their preseason poll earlier this week. UCLA has made the postseason in six of the last seven seasons and has hosted an NCAA Regional at Jackie Robinson the last three seasons. The Bruins also hosted an NCAA Super Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium in 2010 and 2012 and have reached the College World Series in two of the last three years.

UCLA is one of five Pac-12 programs in the top-25, joining No. 6 Oregon State, No. 9 Stanford, No. 15 Oregon and No. 24 Arizona. The Bruins will play 15 games against teams ranked in the Baseball America preseason top-25, playing three-game series against the previously mentioned Pac-12 teams, a two-game set against No. 22 Cal State Fullerton, and one game against No. 19 Oklahoma.

The Bruins return 17 letterwinners off of last season's squad, including their entire starting rotation, led by preseason All-American Adam Plutko. Juniors Nick Vander Tuig and Zack Weiss also return to the rotation while sophomore Grant Watson comes back after a great freshman campaign in 2012. In the bullpen, junior Ryan Deeter and sophomore David Berg will be counted on to handle the late innings for the Bruins.

In the outfield, juniors Brian Carroll and Brenton Allen, and sophomore Eric Filia will all look to step into bigger roles in 2013 after the Bruins lost their entire starting outfield from a year ago. Juniors Pat Valaika and Kevin Williams, and sophomore Kevin Kramer will look to anchor the infield while sophomore Chris Keck will look to build upon a solid freshman season. The Bruins also brought in the No. 2 ranked recruiting class back in September and will count on numerous freshmen to make key contributions in 2013.

UCLA will kick off the 2013 season with a three-game series against Minnesota starting on Friday, Feb. 15 at 6 pm at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The series will continue on Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm and 1 pm respectively.

BASEBALL AMERICA'S 2013 PRESEASON POLL

Rank Team 2012 Record Conference
1 North Carolina 46-16 ACC
2 Vanderbilt 35-28 SEC
3 Arkansas 46-22 SEC
4 Louisville 41-22 Big East
5 Mississippi State 40-24 SEC
6 Oregon State 40-20 Pac-12
7 South Carolina 49-20 SEC
8 North Carolina State 43-20 ACC
9 Stanford 41-18 Pac-12
10 LSU 47-18 SEC
11 Kentucky 45-18 SEC
12 UCLA 48-16 Pac-12
13 Mississippi 37-26 SEC
14 TCU 40-22 Big 12
15 Oregon 49-16 Pac-12
16 Georgia Tech 38-28 ACC
17 Florida 47-20 SEC
18 Rice 41-19 Conference USA
19 Oklahoma 42-25 Big 12
20 Florida State 50-17 ACC
21 New Mexico 37-24 Mountain West
22 Cal State Fullerton 36-21 Big West
23 Southern Mississippi 32-24 Conference USA
24 Arizona 48-17 Pac-12
25 San Diego 40-17 West Coast Conference

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