TUCSON, Ariz. – The Oregon State baseball team will open the 2017 season ranked fifth nationally according to Collegiate Baseball, which released its preseason top 40 rankings on Tuesday.
The Beavers are the highest ranked team from the Pac-12 Conference, garnering 485 points. TCU is No. 1 with 496 points, followed by LSU (494), Florida (491) and South Carolina (489).
Oregon State is slated to return seven of its nine position starters from last season, and two starting pitchers – Bryce Fehmel and Luke Heimlich – from the weekend rotation that shut out UCLA over the three-game series.