The College Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll Has Been Released

BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU is ranked No. 1 in the 2026 USA Today Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll released Tuesday, representing the Tigers’ fourth Top 2 ranking since last month.

LSU was rated No. 1 by Perfect Game , No. 2 by D1 Baseball and No. 2 by Baseball America in preseason polls released in January.

The 2026 season starts on Friday, February 13, when LSU plays host to Milwaukee at 2 p.m. CT in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

Head coach Jay Johnson, who has directed the Tigers to the 2023 and 2025 National Championships in his four-season LSU tenure, enters his fifth season with a very talented squad that has 19 returning players and 20 newcomers on its roster.

The reigning National Champions feature seven returning position players with starting experience at LSU, and 10 hurlers who have recorded innings for the Tigers.

The 20-player class of newcomers is composed of eight NCAA Division I transfers, one NCAA Division II transfer, two JUCO transfers and nine high school signees. Five LSU rookies have been ranked among the Prep Baseball Report Top 100 College Freshmen, and another six of the Tigers’ newcomers appear on the Baseball America list of the Top 100 College Transfers.

LSU is one of nine Southeastern Conference teams appearing in the USA Today 2026 Preseason Top 25, along with No. 3 Texas, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 9 Auburn, No. 13 Georgia, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Florida and No. 18 Vanderbilt.

2026 USA Today Coaches Preseason Top 25
(2025 Record in Parentheses)
1. LSU (53-15)
2. UCLA (48-18)
3. Texas (44-14)
4. Georgia Tech (41-19)
5. Arkansas (50-15)
6. Mississippi State (36-23)
7. Coastal Carolina (56-13)
8. North Carolina (46-15)
9. Auburn (41-20)
10. TCU (39-20)
11. Louisville (42-24)
12. Oregon State (48-16-1)
13. Georgia (43-17)
14. Florida State (42-16)
15. Tennessee (46-19)
16. Florida (39-22)
17. Clemson (45-18)
18. Vanderbilt (43-18)
19. North Carolina State (35-21)
20. Southern Mississippi (47-16)
21. Miami (Fla.) (35-27)
22. Virginia (32-18)
23. Oregon (42-16)
24. Arizona (44-21)
25. Wake Forest (39-22)

(Release via LSU Athletics)