Cardinals Sit No. 2 in Baseball America Preseason Poll

Louisville has been ranked in the top two in all four preseason rankings released.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the first time heading into the 2020 season, a preseason poll was released that didn’t have the University of Louisville at the top as the Cardinals were ranked second by Baseball America on Monday.

Louisville had previously been atop the rankings of Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, D1Baseball and Perfect Game.

Reigning national champion Vanderbilt holds the top spot in the Baseball America preseason rankings, followed by the Cardinals in the second position. Arizona State, Florida and Miami round out the top five.

The Atlantic Coast Conference had eight teams inside the top 25, the most of any conference. Louisville’s 2020 slate features 16 games against teams in the Baseball America poll.

Louisville is coming off a 51-18 record during the 2019 campaign that saw it win the ACC Atlantic Division for the fourth time in five years and reach the bracket final at the College World Series, the deepest postseason run in program history.

Head coach Dan McDonnell is set to begin his 14th season at the helm of the Louisville program and returns 24 players from last year’s team that finished the year ranked third nationally.

Louisville opens the 2020 season Feb. 14 with a three-game series on the road at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. The Cardinals’ home opener is set for Feb. 19 against Wright State at Jim Patterson Stadium.