Virginia is ranked No. 5 in the Baseball America preseason poll for the second straight year.
You may have forgotten that last year’s team that barely made the NCAA Tournament was that well-regarded in the preseason, but it was, and eventually played up to the expectations by somehow getting back to the College World Series for the first time since 2015.
That was the program’s fifth College World Series appearance.
Virginia finished the 2021 season ranked in the top-10 in every major collegiate baseball poll and ranked as high as No. 6 according to Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, NCBWA and Perfect Game.
The Cavaliers are also nationally ranked in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s preseason poll, coming in at No. 24