Baseball Recruiting Class Ranked 19th in Nation
9/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 29, 2003
WACO, Texas - With 10 new student-athletes joining the program, Baylor baseball's incoming class of 2003-2004 was named the 19th best recruiting haul in the country by Collegiate Baseball, the publication announced Monday.
Continuing a recent trend, seven of the 10 signees come from Texas, with the three out-of-state students coming from Arizona, Arkansas and Tennessee. Four of the Texas natives who signed with Baylor out of high school were ranked among the 45 best prospects in the state by Baseball America/Perfect Game. Texas Baseball News named Baylor signees Cory Van Allen and Jeff Mandel the No. 4 and No. 13 prospects in the state, respectively. Van Allen, a left-handed pitcher/first baseman, was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third round but elected not to sign.
The Bears' class ranked third in the state of Texas and fourth in the Big 12 Conference. Among Baylor's 2004 opponents, Arizona (fourth), Texas (fifth), Oklahoma State (seventh), Oklahoma (ninth), Rice (17th), UC-Irvine (22nd) and Vanderbilt (24th) all made the top 25. North Carolina claimed the top spot in the rankings.
Baylor's recruiting classes have ranked among the top 25 in the nation each of the past three seasons and four times in the past six years (23rd, 1998; 25th, 2001; 13th, 2002; 19th, 2003).
The Bears begin their annual Fall Practice, a series of 18 intrasquad games, on Wednesday. Baylor begins the 2004 season Feb. 13 at home against Loyola Marymount.
Collegiate Baseball's 2003 Recruiting Results
Rank Team Recruits Frosh JC Tran.1. North Carolina 10 8 1 12. South Carolina 19 12 7 03. Florida 15 12 3 04. Arizona 11 7 3 15. Texas 17 8 8 16. Louisiana St. 8 5 2 17. Oklahoma St. 17 5 9 38. Stanford 9 9 0 09. Oklahoma 19 9 9 110. Mississippi 18 11 5 211. Georgia Tech. 10 10 0 012. Arizona St. 22 15 6 113. Southern California 12 9 3 014. Florida St. 13 11 2 015. Miami, Fla. 8 7 1 016. Fresno St. 23 10 7 617. Rice 14 9 4 118. Cal. St. Fullerton 15 11 3 119. Baylor 10 8 2 020. Stetson 16 14 1 121. Alabama 12 6 6 022. U.C. Irvine 12 10 2 023. Clemson 13 9 3 124. Vanderbilt 14 10 3 125. Santa Clara 9 7 0 226. South Alabama 18 13 2 327. Wake Forest 10 7 2 128. California 15 13 1 129. Notre Dame 11 11 0 0t30. Long Beach St. 16 7 8 1t30. Mississippi St. 13 10 2 1t30. Arkansas 23 15 7 1t30. Nebraska 16 12 3 1
