LSU baseball ranked No. 11 in preseason poll

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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - LSU baseball is ranked No. 11 in the 2019 Collegiate Baseball newspaper preseason poll.

LSU is No. 11 in @CBNewspaper preseason poll - the 2020 season opener is less than two months away! #GeauxTigers https://t.co/dRyUU7LACg pic.twitter.com/yzVhrHX14i
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) December 16, 2019

This will be the ninth straight season the Tigers will begin the year among the Top 15 teams Saturday.

LSU finished fall ball practice back in November, and the team will soon begin workouts on January 24. The Tigers will open the 2020 season against Indiana at Alex Box Stadium on Friday, February 14.

“I’m very optimistic about the potential and the ability of this team,” said coach Paul Mainieri, who will enter the 2020 season ranked No. 2 on the active NCAA Division I coaches wins list with 1,455 career victories in 37 seasons at St. Thomas, Air Force, Notre Dame, and LSU. "We had a very productive fall practice, and we learned a lot about our players. I was very pleased with their competitiveness and work ethic, and we built a lot of positive momentum heading into the spring.

The Tigers will return five key players who started at least half of LSU’s 66 games in 2019, including outfielder Daniel Cabrera, catcher Saul Garza, first baseman Cade Beloso, outfielder Giovanni DiGiacomo and infielder Hal Hughes.

The pitching staff features 11 Tigers who recorded innings last season, including three weekend starters – right-handers Cole Henry, Landon Marceaux and Eric Walker. Right-hander Devin Fontenot, who posted seven saves in 2019, and right-hander Matthew Beck, who was 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA last season, are back to lead the LSU bullpen.