By Staff Report.

GREENSBORO, N.C – Clemson holds a No. 5 preseason ranking in the 2011 USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll released on Thursday, and a five ACC teams are ranked among the top 19.

The Tigers are joined by Florida State at No. 11, Virginia at No. 14, Miami at No. 18 and Georgia Tech at No. 19. All five programs made the NCAA Tournament field in 2010 and were joined by North Carolina , NC State and Virginia Tech to give the ACC a record eight teams in postseason play. Clemson and Florida State reached the College World Series at Omaha , Neb. 

ACC teams open their seasons Feb. 18 and conclude regular-season play May 21. The ACC Baseball Championship will be held May 25-29 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham , N.C.  

Please see below for the complete 2011 USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll. 

USA TODAY/ESPN TOP 25 COACHES’ POLL — Jan. 27, 2011

  The USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 baseball coaches’ poll, with FINAL 2010 RECORDS, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in final 2010 poll (June 30) and first-place votes received:

                                                                                        Final 2010          First-place

  Rank     School (2010 record)          Points                    rank                  votes

  1.           UCLA (51-17)                        741                           2                          9

  2.           TCU (54-14)                           728                           3                          9

  3.           Florida (47-17)                       709                           8                          7

  4.           Vanderbilt (46-20)                  593                           13                        1

  5.           Clemson (45-25)                   592                           4                          0

  6.           Oklahoma (50-18)                 587                           5                          0

  7.           Texas (50-13)                        577                           9                          0

  8.           South Carolina (54-16)          564                           1                          5

  9.           Cal State Fullerton (46-18)    449                           12                        0

  10.         Oregon (40-24)                      402                           not ranked           0

  11.         Florida State (48-20)            401                           6                          0

  12.         Arizona State (52-10)             372                           7                          0

  13.         Texas A&M (43-21-1)            371                           21                        0

  14.         Virginia (51-14)                     369                           10                        0

  15.         LSU (41-22)                           278                           25                        0

  16.         Stanford (31-25)                    277                           not ranked           0

  17.         Rice (40-23)                           261                           20                        0

  18.         Miami ( Fla. ) (43-20)              249                           15                        0

  19.         Georgia Tech (47-15)           214                           17                        0

  20.         Coastal Carolina (55-10)        210                           11                        0

  21.         Louisville (50-14)                    178                           16                        0

  22.         Connecticut (48-16)               156                           23                        0

  23.         Auburn (43-21)                       128                           19                        0

  24.         Arkansas (43-21)                   113                           14                        0

  25.         Arizona (34-24)                      110                           not ranked           0

   

  Others receiving votes (with 2010 records): UC-Irvine (39-21) 92; Alabama (42-25) 75; Wichita State (41-19) 54; North Carolina (38-22) 31; Mississippi (39-24) 28; San Diego (37-22) 27; College of Charleston (44-19) 24; St. John‘s (43-20) 17; Baylor (36-24) 14; Fresno State (38-25) 14; Washington State (37-22) 14; Oregon State (32-24) 11; Virginia Tech (40-22) 9; Tulane (32-24) 8; California (29-25) 5; Kansas State (37-22) 5; Pittsburgh (38-18) 5; Kent State (39-25) 3; Central Florida (33-22) 2; Florida Atlantic (37-24) 2; Southern Mississippi (36-24) 2; Hawaii (35-28) 1; Liberty (42-19) 1; Minnesota (32-30) 1; North Carolina State (38-24) 1.

 

  The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2011 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; Greg DiCenzo, Holy Cross; David Eldredge, Southern Utah; Mike Gaski, North Carolina-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Daniel Heefner, Dallas Baptist; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; Steve Kittrell, South Alabama; Kevin Leighton, Manhattan; Gary McClure, Austin Peay; Mervyl Melendez, Bethune-Cookman; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, North Carolina-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.