Tech Ranked No. 4 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

Dec. 22, 2003

ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech baseball team is ranked No. 4 in the nation in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason Top 25 poll while pitcher/designated hitter Micah Owings and second baseman Eric Patterson were named to the publication’s preseason all-America team.

Rice and Miami tied for the top spot in the poll, while Louisiana State is ranked No. 3. Texas, Stanford, Arizona State, Cal State-Fullerton, Wichita State and Notre Dame round out the top 10. Three other schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference made the poll, including Clemson at No. 17, North Carolina at No. 21 and Florida State at No. 24.

The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 44-18 record in 2003 and Tech won its second Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the last four years last spring.

Owings, the 2003 ACC Rookie of the Year, and Patterson, a two-time first-team All-ACC selection, were both named to the second-team preseason All-America squad.

The Yellow Jackets open the 2004 season on Feb. 14 at Georgia Southern. Season tickets are available by contacting the Georgia Tech ticket office at (888) TECH-TIX.

Rank School ('03 Final Record)    Points    Final '03 Rank1. Rice (58-12)                   495        1   Miami, Fla. (45-17-1)          495        53. Louisiana St. (45-22-1)        491        74. Georgia Tech. (44-18)          489        145. Texas (50-20)                  486        46. Stanford (51-18)               484        27. Arizona St. (54-14)            481        108. Cal. St. Fullerton (50-16)     477        39. Wichita St. (49-27)            475        NR10. Notre Dame (45-18)            470        2811. Baylor (45-23)                468        1312. Long Beach St. (41-20)        464        1113. Tulane (44-19)                462        NR14. South Carolina (45-22)        458        615. Florida (37-21-1)             457        NR16. Southern California (28-28)   456        NR17. Clemson (39-22)               450        NR18. Auburn (42-21)                449        2019. Florida Atlantic (47-16)      446        2320. Nebraska (47-18)              445        1521. North Carolina (42-23)        443        1922. Arizona (35-23)               441        NR23. Washington (42-18)            438        2724. Florida St. (54-13-1)         437        925. Minnesota (40-22)             432        NR

FIRST TEAM PRE-SEASON ALL-AMERICANS RHP Jeff Niemann, Rice (17-0, 1.70 ERA, 156 K, 35 BB) RHP Jered Weaver, Long Beach St. (14-4, 1.96 ERA, 144 K, 20 BB) LHP Jeremy Sowers, Vanderbilt (7-5, 2.50 ERA, 123 K, 29 BB) RHP Wade Townsend, Rice (11-2, 2.20 ERA, 164 K, 46 BB) RHP Philip Humber, Rice (11-3, 3.30 ERA, 138 K, 39 BB) RHP Vern Sterry, North Carolina St. (11-0, 3.25 ERA, 124 K, 39 BB) Relief Huston Street, Texas (15 SV, 8-1, 1.33 ERA, 69 K, 13 BB) C Landon Powell, South Carolina (.339, 10 HR, 23 2B, 61 RBI) 1B Billy Becher, New Mexico St. (.420, 32 HR, 16 2B, 118 RBI) 2B Steve Sollmann, Notre Dame (.384, 16 2B, 38 SB) 3B Michael Griffin, Baylor (.350, 11 HR, 26 2B, 76 RBI) SS Dustin Pedroia, Arizona St. (.404, 34 2B, 52 RBI) OF Jeff Larish, Arizona St. (.372, 18 HR, 18 2B, 95 RBI) OF Jordan Foster, Lamar (.417, 29 2B, 71 RBI) OF Ryan Patterson, Lsu (.350, 16 HR, 20 2B, 51 RBI) DH Ryan Gordon, N.C. Greensboro (.416, 20 2B, 50 RBI, 20 SB) UT Stephen Head, Mississippi (.337, 10 2B, 44 RBI, 13 SV as pitcher, 1.40 ERA)

SECOND TEAM PRE-SEASON ALL-AMERICANS LHP Glen Perkins, Minnesota RHP Jason Windsor, Cal. St. Fullerton RHP Dustin Miller, Cal. St. Fullerton RHP Chris Niesel, Notre Dame LHP J.D. Cockroft, Miami (Fla.) LHP Randy Beam, Florida Atlantic LHP J.P. Howell, Texas Relief Will Fenton, Washington C Jeff Clement, Southern California 1B C.J. Smith, Florida 2B Eric Patterson, Georgia Tech 3B Neil Sellers, Eastern Kentucky SS Stephen Drew, Florida St. OF Jeff Frazier, Rutgers OF Sam Fuld, Stanford OF Drew Moffitt, Wichita St. UT Micah Owings, Georgia Tech