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Mississippi State Bulldogs Rank No. 4 in Preseason USA Today Coaches' Poll

The USA Today Coaches' Baseball Poll has been released, and it looks like several coaches expect big things from Mississippi State in 2014. The Bulldogs start the season at No. 4, and Cal State Fullerton starts from the top spot.

USA TODAY Sports

Another baseball poll means another top-ten spot for Mississippi State as the Bulldogs will start the 2014 season ranked No. 4 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll released Wednesday.

Cal State Fullerton, who plays out of the Big West Conference, holds the top spot in the polls. The Bulldogs picked up four first place votes, and they were only of three teams, along with the Titans (18) and LSU (6), to receive a first place vote.

The SEC placed five teams in the poll with LSU at No. 2, Vanderbilt at No. 8, South Carolina at No. 14 and Florida at No. 20 joining Mississippi State.

Last year's national champion, UCLA, starts the season at No. 10, and they are joined by four other PAC-12 teams: No. 3 Oregon State, No. 7 Oregon, No. 19 Arizona State and No. 25 Stanford.

The ACC, which has not won a baseball championship since Wake Forest claimed the crown in 1955, placed the most teams in the poll with six members of their conference landing in the Top-25:  No. 5 Florida State, No. 6 Virginia, No. 9 North Carolina State, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 16 Clemson, and No. 17 Miami (FL).

Other conferences placed the following teams in the top 25 poll:

American Athletic Conference: One team- No. 13 Louisville

Big 10: One team- No. 11 Indiana

Big 12: Four teams- No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 21 Kansas State, No. 22 Texas, and No. 23 TCU

Conference USA: One team- No. 15 Rice

Sun Belt: One team- No. 24 Louisiana-Lafayette

RANK SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) 2013 RECORD POINTS FINAL 2013 RANKING
1 Cal State Fullerton (18) 51-10 729 10
2 LSU (6) 57-11 683 6
3 Oregon State 52-13 648 4
4 Mississippi State (4) 51-20 632 2
5 Florida State 47-17 595 13
6 Virginia 50-12 560 11
7 Oregon 48-16 541 15t
8 Vanderbilt 54-12 538 9
9 North Carolina State 50-16 533 5
10 UCLA 49-17 490 1
11 Indiana 49-16 484 7
12 North Carolina 59-12 450 3
13 Louisville 51-14 429 8
14 South Carolina 43-20 416 12
15 Rice 44-20 274 15t
16 Clemson 40-22 248 25
17 Miami (Fla.) 37-25 240 NR
18 Oklahoma State 41-19 220 21
19 Arizona State 37-22-1 198 19t
20 Florida 29-30 181 NR
21 Kansas State 45-19 118 14
22 Texas 27-24 95 NR
23 TCU 29-28 93 NR
24 Louisiana-Lafayette 43-20 88 NR
25 Stanford 32-22 84 NR

Mississippi State starts its season Feb. 14 at home against Hofstra.