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The college baseball season is set to begin this week, and Athlon Sports released their 2013 preseason top 25. The list contains the usual suspects with North Carolina at the top with Oregon State, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and others lurking in the top 10.
New Mexico has also earned a spot in this top 25 list and are ranked No. 24, a bit lower than other publications:
Energetic head coach Ray Birmingham has a trio of legit All-America candidates in 3B DJ Peterson (.419-17-78), who finished fifth nationally in hitting, OF Ryan Padilla (.353-5-49), a Freshman All-American in 2012, and C Mitch Garver (.377-10-57), a Johnny Bench Award finalist. RHP Josh Walker (8-3, 4.19) leads a re-worked pitching staff that will feature some stout transfers from the junior college ranks, headed by mid-90s hurler Tyler Spencer.
The Lobos are looking to be higher than No. 24 once the season gets gonig, and they have goals of making it to the College World Series. They have a lot of talent to make a run and they get to play some top teams this year like Arkansas to gauge how good they are.
New Mexico opens their season at home against Oklahoma State with a three-game series that starts on Feb. 15 - 17.
Here is the complete top 25 from Athlon:
1. North Carolina (46-16 overall, 22-8 ACC)
2. Oregon State (40-20, 18-12 Pac-12)
3. Vanderbilt (35-28, 16-14 SEC)
4. Arkansas (46-22, 16-14 SEC)
5. NC State (43-20, 19-11 ACC)
6. UCLA (48-16, 20-10 Pac-12)
7. Stanford (41-18, 18-12 Pac-12)
8. TCU (40-22, 18-6 MWC)
9. LSU (47-18, 19-11 SEC)
10. Kentucky (45-18, 18-12 SEC)
11. Florida State (50-17, 24-6 ACC)
12. South Carolina (49-20, 18-11 SEC)
13. Oregon (46-19, 19-11 Pac-12)
14. Arizona (48-17, 20-10 Pac-12)
15. Louisville (41-22,18-9 Big East)
16. Coastal Carolina (42-19, 18-5 Big South)
17. Cal State Fullerton (36-21, 17-7 Big West)
18. San Diego (40-17, 15-9 West Coast)
19. Arizona State (36-20, 18-12 Pac-12)
20. Georgia Tech (38-26, 12-18 ACC)
21. UC Irvine (31-25, 13-11 Big West)
22. Florida (47-20, 18-12 SEC)
23. Rice (41-19, 17-7 Conference USA)
24. New Mexico (37-24, 18-6 Mountain West)
25. UCF (45-17, 16-8 Conference USA)