Jan. 6, 2004
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech baseball team is ranked No. 5 in the nation in Baseball America’s preseason Top 25 poll while five Yellow Jackets – P/DH Micah Owings, 2B Eric Patterson, C Mike Nickeas, OF Jeremy Slayden and SS Tyler Greene – were named to the publication’s preseason all-America team.
Rice begins the season ranked No. 1 in the poll, while Louisiana State, Miami and Cal State Fullerton are ranked ahead of the Yellow Jackets. Four other schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference made the poll, including Clemson at No. 11, North Carolina at No. 15, Florida State at No. 22 and NC State at No. 25.
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, Patterson, a two-time first-team All-ACC selection, and Slayden were all named to the first-team preseason all-America squad. Nickeas and Greene were second-team preseason all-America selections.
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.
2004 Baseball America Preseason Top 25Rk. School 03 Rec. Last1. Rice 58-12 12. Louisiana State 45-22 53. Miami 45-17 84. Cal State Fullerton 50-16 35. Georgia Tech 44-18 176. Stanford 51-18 27. South Carolina 45-22 108. Texas 50-20 49. Long Beach State 41-20 910. Tulane 44-19 NR11. Clemson 39-22 NR12. Auburn 42-21 1813. Baylor 45-23 1114. Wichita State 49-27 NR15. North Carolina 42-23 1916. Arizona 35-23 NR17. Mississippi 35-27 NR18. Arizona State 54-14 719. Notre Dame 45-18 NR20. Florida 37-21 NR21. Texas A&M 45-19 1422. Florida State 54-13 623. Florida Atlantic 47-16 2324. Nebraska 47-18 1325. NC State 45-18 12
Baseball America’s complete preseason all-America teams can be found at: Preseason all-America Teams
