Dec. 22, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. - UCLA has been ranked No. 21 in Collegiate Baseball's preseason top-40 poll, the weekly national baseball newspaper announced this week. The Bruins will play 51 of their 56 regular-season games against teams either ranked in Collegiate Baseball's top-40 or receiving votes in the preseason poll.

The UCLA baseball program is one of seven Pac-10 programs rated among the top-40 by Collegiate Baseball. The three remaining Pac-10 programs have been included as teams also receiving votes.

Stanford and Arizona State represent the Pac-10 in the poll's top-10, at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, respectively. Following UCLA at No. 21, USC checks in at No. 24. Arizona is ranked No. 35, Oregon State is slotted No. 38 and California has earned a No. 39 ranking in the preseason poll.

Oregon, in its first season of NCAA Division I baseball since 1981, accompanies Washington and Washington State in the preseason poll's selection of other teams receiving votes.

The Bruins will play 33 games against teams ranked in the top-40 - additionally, 18 games will feature opponents also receiving votes in Collegiate Baseball's preseason poll.

UCLA returns four starting position players (Gabe Cohen, Cody Decker, Blair Dunlap and Casey Haerther) from its 2008 lineup and two of three weekend starters (juniors Gavin Brooks and Charles Brewer). Overall, the Bruins return 13 of 14 pitchers from its 2008 staff (lost Tim Murphy, 3rd round MLB Draft, Texas Rangers).

The Bruins' 2009 campaign begins with a three-game series against UC Davis on Friday, Feb. 20. Game time at Steele Field at Jackie Robinson Stadium is slated for 6 p.m.

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL'S 2009 TOP-40 PRESEASON POLL

Rank	Team	2008 Record	Points
1	Louisiana State	49-19-1	495
2	North Carolina	54-14	494
3	Rice	47-15	489
4	Georgia	45-25-1	486
5	Stanford	41-24-2	484
6	Arizona State	49-13	482
7	Florida State	54-14	479
8	Louisville	41-21	476
9	Texas A&M	46-19	473
10	Texas	39-22	470
11	Mississippi	39-25	467
12	Georgia Tech	41-21	462
13	Cal State Fullerton	41-22	462
14	Oklahoma State	44-18	459
15	Baylor	32-26	457
16	Fresno State	47-31	456
17	San Diego	44-17	453
18	Miami	53-11	451
19	Kentucky	44-19	448
20	UC Irvine	42-18	445
21	UCLA	33-27	443
22	Missouri	39-21	440
23	Pepperdine	38-21	439
24	USC	28-28	436
25	Florida	34-24	435
26	Clemson	31-27-1	432
27	Notre Dame	33-21-1	430
28	Coastal Carolina	50-14	428
29	Michigan	46-14	425
30	UC Santa Barbara	35-21	423
31	East Carolina	42-21	422
32	Missouri State	40-17	420
33	Southern Mississippi	42-22	417
34	Tulane	39-22-1	415
35	Arizona	42-19	414
36	Wichita State	48-17	410
37	Texas Christian	44-19	409
38	Oregon State	28-24	406
39	California	33-21-2	402
40	Alabama	35-28	398

Also receiving votes: Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Auburn, Long Beach State, Oregon, Virginia, North Carolina State, Houston, Kent State, Santa Clara, UC Riverside, Oral Roberts, Nebraska, Kennesaw State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, San Diego State, Tennessee, Mississippi State, New Mexico, Jacksonville State, Elon, Western Kentucky, Dallas Baptist, UNC Charlotte, South Florida, St. John's, Winthrop, Purdue, James Madison, Marshall, Central Florida, Washington, Washington State, Georgia Southern, Northwestern State, Lamar, Texas-San Antonio, Southern, Louisiana-Monroe, New Orleans, Hawaii, San Jose State, San Francisco.