North Carolina A&T And Southern Receive Votes in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

Two HBCU baseball programs received votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) 2020 Preseason NCAA Division I Poll. North Carolina A&T and Southern University are among 60 of the nation’s top rank teams receiving votes in the annual poll.

The Aggies finished the 2019 campaign with a overall record of 29-24, including a 16-8 mark in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. NC A&T was crowned Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Baseball National Champion in 2018, the program’s first-ever national title.

North Carolina A&T will again face another tough schedule in 2020 including No. 17 North Carolina State and No. 19 North Carolina that are ranked in the NCBWA Preseason Poll.

Opening Day for the 2020 season is set for February 14th in Lexington County Stadium, Lexington, SC. The Aggies will open the season with a scheduled doubleheader against Butler University and George Mason with a return game with Butler on Feb. 15th to conclude the three-game series before its first home game on Feb. 18 with Appalachian State at the War Memorial.

Southern University’s baseball team received votes in the (NCBWA) Preseason poll after finishing the 2019 season with a 32-24 record, including a conference record 17-6 mark in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.  The Jaguars won the SWAC baseball championship last season and were crowned HBCU Baseball National Champions this past May. Southern made the NCAA’s field of 64 teams that played in the postseason regionals and was selected as a 4th seed in the Starkville Regional in Starkville, Mississippi.

The Jaguars’ season starts Feb.14th with the University of New Orleans in New Orleans, LA participating in MLB Andre Dawson Classic. They will face in the classic, SWAC rivals Alcorn State on Feb. 15th and a scheduled doubleheader Feb. 16th with Alabama State and Grambling State.

Southern will again face another tough schedule in 2020 including No. 13 LSU Tigers on Feb. 18th, No. 3 Texas Tech (2) Feb. 25-26, and No. 9 Mississippi State on May 5th in Starkville, MS.

Last year, Southern University was listed in the NCBWA poll throughout the season.

The NCBWA 2020 Preseason list:

2020 NCBWA DIVISION I PRESEASON POLL (FEB. 3) Rk. School Conference Record Pvs. 1. Vanderbilt SEC 0-0 1 2. Louisville ACC 0-0 3 3. Texas Tech Big 12 0-0 4 4. Georgia SEC 0-0 16 5. Miami ACC 0-0 24 6. Arkansas SEC 0-0 7 7. Arizona State Pac-12 0-0 RV 8. Florida SEC 0-0 RV 9. Mississippi State SEC 0-0 5 10. Auburn SEC 0-0 8 11. UCLA Pac-12 0-0 9 12. Michigan Big Ten 0-0 2 13. LSU SEC 0-0 15 14. Florida State ACC 0-0 6 15. Duke ACC 0-0 17 16. Stanford Pac-12 0-0 10 17. N.C. State ACC 0-0 29 18. Oklahoma State Big 12 0-0 11 19. North Carolina ACC 0-0 14 20. East Carolina American Athletic 0-0 13 21. Texas A&M SEC 0-0 20 22. Georgia Tech ACC 0-0 18 23. Wake Forest ACC 0-0 NR 24. Oklahoma Big 12 0-0 NR 25. Ole Miss SEC 0-0 12 26. Arizona Pac-12 0-0 NR 27. Dallas Baptist Missouri Valley 0-0 28 28. TCU Big 12 0-0 RV 29. Oregon State Pac-12 0-0 21 30. Texas Big 12 0-0 NR 31. Southern Miss Conference USA 0-0 RV 32. Ohio State Big Ten 0-0 NR 33. Miami (Ohio) Mid-American 0-0 NR 34. UC Santa Barbara Big West 0-0 22 35. West Virginia Big 12 0-0 19 Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Alabama (0-0), Baylor (0-0), BYU (0-0), Cal State Fullerton (0-0), Clemson (0-0), Coastal Carolina (0-0), Connecticut (0-0), Creighton (0-0), Florida Atlantic (0-0), Fresno State (0-0), Hawaii (0-0), Indiana (0-0), Indiana State (0-0), Lafayette (0-0), Louisiana (0-0), Minnesota (0-0), New Mexico State (0-0), North Carolina A&T (0-0), Old Dominion (0-0), Sam Houston State (0-0), San Diego State (0-0), South Alabama (0-0), Southern (0-0), Tennessee (0-0), UC Irvine (0-0), Virginia (0-0), Washington (0-0). By conference: SEC 9, ACC 8, Big 12 6, Pac-12 5, American Athletic 1, Big Ten 2, Big West 1, Conference USA 1, Mid-American 1, Missouri Valley 1.