Miami Ranked 5th in Final Polls

June 27, 2003

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – Coming off its eighth appearance in the College World Series in the past 10 years the University of Miami baseball team finished the season with a No. 5 ranking in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches Poll and the Collegiate Baseball rankings.

Head Coach Jim Morris’ Hurricanes finished the season with a 45-17-1 record after going 1-2 in College World Series play. UM was also ranked eighth to close out the season by Baseball America after not being ranked to open the season by the publication.

Miami was the No. 8 national seed headed into the NCAA Tournament and swept 12th-ranked North Carolina State in super regional play to advance to Omaha for the 20th time in school history. UM capped off its NCAA record 10th consecutive regional tournament title with a 13-10 over Florida.

The fifth-ranked Hurricanes are expected to return their entire starting lineup, pitching rotation and bullpen for the 2004 season.

Rice, which captured its school’s first national title, was atop every poll with NCAA runner-up Stanford ranked second. Cal State Fullerton finished the season with a No. 3 ranking and Texas was ranked fourth. LSU finished the season ranked fifth by Baseball America.