No C-USA teams make Baseball America's Preseason Top 25, published today!

Rice, USM, FAU, ODU and FIU were mentioned in today's online chat:

Quote:Mike (San Jose, Calif.): How close was Rice to making your pre-season Top 25 this year ... and what kept them out, in your opinion?

Teddy Cahill: We looked at Rice when we were putting together the rankings. Ford Proctor is a great player to build the lineup around, and I think Rice should be pretty good offensively. I think the biggest question is how the Owls will replace Jon Duplantier and Blake Fox. Those guys were so good for them at the front of the rotation last year. Ricardo Salinas and Glenn Otto are two really nice pieces for the staff, but some guys are going to have to step up. They've got some talented arms, and I'm very interested to see how it all comes together.


Bill (Florida): Where do you think Southern Miss will do this year? I am hearing that they will be much more athletic this year and still have the big bats. Also, the pitching looks deeper.

Teddy Cahill: Conference USA should be pretty interesting again with Rice, Southern Miss and Florida Atlantic all battling it out. Southern Miss is always solid and they bring back some nice pieces like Kirk McCarty and Nick Sandlin. They're going to be younger up the middle, but I think the Eagles can compete for the conference title and be a regional team again this year.


Dave (Florida): How do you think CUSA will shake out this year?

Teddy Cahill: All the CUSA questions. I think Rice is the favorite. FAU and Southern Miss should be regional teams again. Old Dominion should be solid, and I think FIU will take a step forward in Mervyl Melendez's first year. I expect another strong year for CUSA overall.

Not much love for La Tech...did they lose a lot of players???

BA has really fallen over the past several years with Aaron Fitt leaving to join D1baseball. They did very little to no homework.

(01-23-2017 05:36 PM)TTT Wrote:  Not much love for La Tech...did they lose a lot of players???

I dont think so, maybe its because the Head Coach changed? But Bourroughs should be good.

Like the old saying goes "It's not how you start, it's how you finish that matters". They'll be talking quite a bit about C-USA baseball by the end of the regular season.

I'm very high on Tech. Probably too high honestly.