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 NRFIRST 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
