Baseball Ranked No. 32 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll
12/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dec. 26, 2005
HOUSTON - With just more than a month to the start of practice, the University of Houston baseball was ranked No. 32 in Collegiate Baseball magazine's preseason poll.
Although finishing with a disappointing 29-30 overall record in 2005, Houston tied for third at the Conference USA Tournament last year. This season, the Cougars return 20 letterwinners and seven starters for head coach Rayner Noble, who begins his 12th season in 2006 and needs only 10 victories to reach 400 in his career.
Those veterans, combined with a signing class that was ranked No. 19 nationally by StudentSportsBaseball.com and among the nation's best by Collegiate Baseball magazine, impressed the editors of the poll enough to earn the lofty ranking. The Cougars were the only team with a losing record from a year ago in the preseason poll.
This marked the first time since Feb. 2, 2004, that the Cougars have been ranked in a national poll. The Cougars weighed in at No. 27 in the Baseball America poll early in the 2004 season.
Junior shortstop Dustin Kingsbury returns as the team's leading hitter after batting .341 with six home runs and a team-best 58 RBIs. He was one of only three players to start all 59 games a year ago and was named to the 2005 C-USA All-Tournament Team.
Junior righthander Brad Lincoln finished 2005 with a .337 batting average, seven home runs and 52 RBIs. He also threw to a 4-7 record with a 4.76 ERA and a team-high 106 strikeouts in a team-best 102.0 innings pitched. The Clute, Texas, native became just the seventh player in school history to record triple-digit strikeouts in one season.
Southpaw Matt Farrington is one of only six seniors on the team and joins catcher Brett Logan as the only three-year letterwinners. A year ago, the Sugar Land, Texas, native earned All-Conference USA First-Team honors after throwing to an 8-5 record with 60 strikeouts and a team-best 3.24 ERA in 97.1 innings.
Sophomore righthander Aaron Brown came on strong at the end of the 2005 season and carried that momentum to the summer season. He was named to the Dr. Pepper Texas Collegiate League Futures Game at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas, and was recognized as the Freshman Pitcher of the Year by that league.
UH officially begins its 2006 season with the start of practice on Jan. 10 at Cougar Field.
The Cougars open their 2006 season when they play host to Texas-San Antonio at 2 p.m., Feb. 7, at Cougar Field. From there, the team will compete at the Minute Maid Park College Classic with games against No. 1 Texas at 7 p.m., Feb. 10, TCU at 3:30 p.m., Feb. 11 and against Texas Tech at 11 a.m., Feb. 12.
The Cougars' 2006 schedule also will feature several teams among the nation's best. UH will face nine teams ranked in Collegiate Baseball's preseason poll for a total of 32 games with six of those opponents among the Top 25. In addition, the Cougars will meet UC Irvine, UCF, East Carolina, Northwestern State and Lamar, all of whom received votes in the magazine's poll.
Always among the leaders in the nation's toughest schedule, the 2006 UH slate is no different. The Cougars will not play more than four consecutive games against non-ranked opponents until late April. And once that streak is finished, UH wraps up the regular season with six games against C-USA rivals UCF and Rice.
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Div. I Preseason Poll
(As of Dec. 23, 2005)
Rank School ('05 Final Record) Points Final '05 Rank
1. Texas (56-16) 496 1
2. Florida (48-23) 492 2
3. Oregon State (46-12) 490 7
4. Nebraska (57-15) 489 6
5. Rice (45-19) 487 16
6. Clemson (43-23) 484 13
7. North Carolina (41-19-1) 482 21
8. Florida State (53-20) 479 15
9. Cal State Fullerton (46-18) 476 9
10. Georgia Tech (45-19) 475 10
11. Miami (Fla.) (41-19-1) 473 14
12. Arizona State (42-25) 470 3
13. Pepperdine (41-23) 469 23
14. Missouri (40-23) 467 -
15. LSU (40-22) 466 19
16. Long Beach State (37-22) 463 18
17. South Carolina (41-23) 461 26
18. Florida Atlantic (37-24) 459 -
19. Tennessee (46-21) 458 8
20. Mississippi (48-20) 456 11
21. USC (41-22) 455 17
22. Notre Dame (38-24-1) 453 -
23. Baylor (46-24) 450 4
24. Tulane (56-12) 449 5
25. Stanford (34-25) 447 -
26. Wichita State (51-24) 444 27
27. TCU (41-20) 443 29
28. Winthrop (44-22) 440 -
29. Oklahoma (35-26) 438 -
30. Southern Miss (41-21) 435 -
31. Arizona (39-21) 434 12
32. Houston (29-30) 430 - 33. Arkansas (39-22) 428 -
34. Mississippi State (42-22) 427 -
35. San Francisco (38-18) 425 -
36. San Diego (30-27-1) 422 -
37. Stetson (35-28) 419 -
38. Washington (33-22) 415 -
39. Georgia (30-25) 413 -
40. Fresno State (30-29) 409 -
Other Teams Receiving Votes: Cal Poly, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, California, UCLA, Ohio State, North Carolina State, Coastal Carolina, Louisville, UC Irvine, Virginia Commonwealth, Miami (Ohio), Oral Roberts, UCF, East Carolina, Central Michigan, Southern Illinois, UNLV, San Diego State, Maine, Birmingham Southern, Jacksonville State, South Alabama, Louisiana-Lafayette, Troy, Florida International, Loyola Marymount, Army, College of Charleston, Georgia Southern, Charlotte, Richmond, Western Carolina, Northwestern State, Lamar, Southern.
2006 Houston opponents listed in Bold.
