TCU at No. 1 in first preseason college baseball poll for 2017

The first college baseball poll is out, and national semifinalist TCU is No. 1.

The Horned Frogs, who return eight position players and the top four pitchers from last season’s College World Series team, are at the top of the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Fabulous 40 preaseason poll announced Tuesday.

As Collegiate Baseball notes, TCU also landed a top-10 recruiting class led by left-handed pitcher Nick Lodolo, a first-round supplemental pick in the Major League draft who turned down a reported $1.75 million signing bonus from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Monday, Collegiate Baseball named five TCU players preseason All-Americans, including designated hitter Luken Baker, who hit seven of his 11 home runs last season in postseason.

TCU opens the season Feb. 17 at home against Penn State, coming off three consecutive trips to Omaha. Last season, the Frogs came within one game of the national championship series before being eliminated by eventual winner Coastal Carolina.

More polls are due in January and February, including the USA Today Coaches Poll, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, the D1Baseball.com and the Baseball America rankings.

Top 40

1. TCU (49-18)

2. LSU (45-21)

3. Florida (52-16)

4. South Carolina (46-18)

5. Oregon St. (35-19)

6. Vanderbilt (43-19)

7. Arizona (49-24)

8. Miami (50-14)

9. Florida St. (41-22)

10. Cal. St. Fullerton (36-23)

11. Louisville (50-14)

12. Clemson (44-20)

13. East Carolina (38-23-1)

14. Louisiana-Lafayette (43-21)

15. North Carolina (34-21)

16. Virginia (38-22)

17. Long Beach St. (38-22)

18. U.C. Santa Barbara (43-20-1)

19. Coastal Carolina (55-18)

20. Texas A&M (49-16)

21. Washington (33-23)

22. Mississippi (43-19)

23. Sam Houston St. (42-22)

24. Stanford (31-23)

25. Arizona St. (36-23)

26. Dallas Baptist (44-19)

27. Rice (38-24)

28. Oklahoma St. (43-22)

29. Texas Tech (47-20)

30. Texas (25-32)

31. N.C. State (38-22)

32. Michigan (36-21)

33. Nebraska (37-22)

34. Tulane (41-21)

35. Houston (36-23)

36. Southeastern La. (40-21)

37. Gonzaga (36-21)

38. Georgia Tech. (38-25)

39. Kent St. (44-14)

40. Florida Atlantic (39-19)

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 12:00 PM with the headline "TCU at No. 1 in first preseason college baseball poll for 2017."