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Baseball America has released its College Baseball Top 25 Preseason Poll on Tuesday and Colorado native Kevin Gausman and his LSU Tigers are the No. 8 team. The Florida Gators were runners-up at the 2011 College World Series, but they are the No. 1 team entering the season. The defending champion South Carolina Gamecocks are the No. 3 team and looking for a third straight College World Series title.
The Arkansas Razorbacks are the No. 4 team and the third SEC team to make the top 10. LSU at No. 8 is the fourth team and the Vanderbilt Commodores at No. 10 are the fifth team. The Georgia Bulldogs at No. 11 and the No. 22 Ole Miss Rebels make for the sixth and seventh teams to make the top 25.
The Tigers will see Gausman lead the pitching staff as a sophomore. He went 5-6 with a 3.51 ERA in 2011. He struck out 86 batters in 90 innings. As Baseball America writes about Gausman:
Gausman's 92-96 mph fastball has armside run and sink, and he has refined his breaking ball and changeup since he arrived at LSU.
Here is the complete top 25:
| Rk. | Team | 2011 Record |
Final 2011 Ranking |
| 1. | Florida | 53-19 | 2 |
| 2. | Stanford | 35-22 | 13 |
| 3. | South Carolina | 55-14 | 1 |
| 4. | Arkansas | 40-22 | 24 |
| 5. | Arizona | 39-21 | NR |
| 6. | Rice | 42-21 | 15 |
| 7. | Texas A&M | 47-22 | 7 |
| 8. | Louisiana State | 36-20 | NR |
| 9. | North Carolina | 51-16 | 5 |
| 10. | Vanderbilt | 54-12 | 4 |
| 11. | Georgia | 33-22 | NR |
| 12. | Georgia Tech | 42-21 | 20 |
| 13. | Texas | 49-19 | 6 |
| 14. | UCLA | 35-24 | 22 |
| 15. | Texas Christian | 43-19 | 19 |
| 16. | Clemson | 43-20 | 21 |
| 17. | Arizona State | 43-18 | 9 |
| 18. | Miami | 38-23 | 17 |
| 19. | Oklahoma | 41-19 | NR |
| 20. | Florida State | 46-19 | 8 |
| 21. | Central Florida | 39-23 | NR |
| 22. | Mississippi | 30-25 | NR |
| 23. | Oregon State | 41-19 | 10 |
| 24. | Louisville | 32-29 | NR |
| 25. | Cal State Fullerton | 41-17 | 14 |