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BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU is No. 9 in the 2021 USA Today preseason poll released Thursday, marking the Tigers’ third Top 10 preseason ranking.

LSU is No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and No. 10 in the Baseball America rankings that have been released in prior weeks. The Tigers will begin the season ranked among the Top 10 teams in the nation for the ninth time in 10 years.

The Tigers begin preseason workouts last Friday, and LSU opens the 2021 season at 7 p.m. on February 19 versus Air Force in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

LSU has a 38-man roster that includes a recruiting class ranked No. 2 in the country by Baseball America. The Tigers also return 10 position players with starting experience and 10 pitchers who recorded innings last season.

LSU is one of nine Southeastern Conference teams appearing in the USA Today 2021 preseason Top 25, along with No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Mississippi State, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 16 Tennessee, No. 20 South Carolina and No. 24 Georgia.

The Tigers’ 2021 schedule features 18 games against teams ranked in the USA Today Top 25.

2021 USA Today Preseason Poll (last season’s records in parentheses)

1Florida (16-1)
2UCLA (13-2)
3Vanderbilt (13-5)
4Texas Tech (16-3)
5Mississippi (16-1)
6Louisville (13-4)
7Mississippi State (12-4)
8Arkansas (11-5)
9LSU (12-5)
10Texas (14-3)
11TCU (11-4)
12North Carolina State (14-3)
13UC Santa Barbara (13-2)
14Virginia (14-4)
15Miami (12-4)
16Tennessee (15-2)
17Georgia Tech (11-5)
18Oklahoma State (13-5)
19Arizona (10-5)
20South Carolina (12-4)
21Florida State (12-5)
22West Virginia (11-5)
23East Carolina (13-4)
24Georgia (14-4)
25Wake Forest (10-8)

{Press release courtesy of LSU Athletics}