The college football season is quickly shrinking into inky blackness in our rearview mirrors. We’ll speed right through the bizarre and unsettling landscape that is this basketball season.* Ahead lies UCLA Baseball, and the Bruins are anticipating another strong performance.Â
Over the past three weeks, the three major ranking services have released their preseason ranks for the 2016 college baseball season, and the Bruins appear in all three:
- Collegiate Baseball News ranks the Bruins 10th.
- D1 Baseball ranks the Bruins 11th.
- Perfect Game ranks the Bruins 14th.
Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game both rank four Pac-12 teams, while D1 ranks five.
Collectively, these rankings project UCLA finishing third or fourth in conference.
The Bruins’ non-conference schedule shapes up a little easier than last year:
The big difference is that the Dodgertown Classic brings in Mississippi State (11/15/17) and Oklahoma (46/nr/19) this year in place of last year’s invitees, Vanderbilt (1/1/1) and TCU (2/8/3). UCLA can realistically hope for a better result than last year’s three-game sweep in that event – although Mississippi State might be in search of revenge after the Bruins beat them to win the 2013 national championship.
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Related Story: New Recruits Join UCLA Baseball
It’s no surprise that UCLA, who finished the regular season last year as the nation’s top ranked team, took a step back – at least in terms of expectations. That’s going to happen when you lose the best closer in the nation, arguably the best starter in the nation, and some key offensive players. But a softer schedule and highly anticipated freshmen leave the Bruins in a good position to succeed in 2016.
Next: UCLA Football Rises in Recruiting Class Rankings
*I’m frankly uncomfortable with any college basketball season in which USC is a legitimate conference contender. Let’s just avoid eye contact, lock our doors, and move along as quickly as we can.