The Arkansas baseball team will open the 2013 season with high expectations of themselves and high expectations from across the country. The Hogs are ranked the number 1 team in the country according to the Collegiate Baseball preseason top 40 poll, released on Thursday. The No. 1 ranking marks the first time in program history that the Razorbacks will open the season as the nation’s top-ranked team.
Arkansas finished the 2012 season with a 46-22 record and advanced to the College World Series for the seventh time in program history, finishing in a tie for third. The 46 victories were the most for the Razorbacks under head coach Dave Van Horn and the most in a season since the 1990 team won 47 games.
Arkansas finished the season ranked in the top six in all four of the major national college baseball polls, including a No. 3 ranking in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, the NCBWA poll and the Collegiate Baseball poll.
Here’s the entire preseason Top 40:
1. Arkansas
2. North Carolina
3. Vanderbilt
4. LSU
5. UCLA
6. Oregon
7. South Carolina
8. Kentucky
9. Stanford
10. Oregon State
11. NC State
12. San Diego
13. Mississippi State
14. Oklahoma
15. TCU
16. Arizona State
17. Georgia Tech
18. Arizona
19. Florida State
20. Rice
21. Texas
22. Louisville
23. Cal State Fullerton
24. Florida
25. Ole Miss
26. Texas A&M
27. Clemson
28. Miami (Fla.)
29. Georgia
30. UC Irvine
31. Missouri State
32. Wichita State
33. New Mexico
34. Kent State
35. Virginia
36. Southern Miss
37. East Carolina
38. Coastal Carolina
39. Dallas Baptist
40. Pepperdine
