BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU is No. 9 in the 2021 USA Today preseason poll released Thursday, marking the Tigers’ fourth Top 10 preseason ranking.

LSU is ranked No. 7 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 8 by Perfect Game and No. 10 by Baseball America in polls that have been released in prior weeks. The Tigers will begin the season ranked among the Top 10 teams in the nation for the ninth time in 10 years.

The Tigers begin preseason workouts last Friday, and LSU opens the 2021 season at 7 p.m. on February 19 versus Air Force in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

LSU has a 38-man roster that includes a recruiting class ranked No. 2 in the country by Baseball America. The Tigers also return 10 position players with starting experience and 10 pitchers who recorded innings last season.

LSU is one of nine Southeastern Conference teams appearing in the USA Today 2021 preseason Top 25, along with No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Mississippi State, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 16 Tennessee, No. 20 South Carolina and No. 24 Georgia.

The Tigers’ 2021 schedule features 18 games against teams ranked in the USA Today Top 25.

2021 USA Today Preseason Poll (last season’s records in parentheses)

1	Florida (16-1)
2	UCLA (13-2)
3	Vanderbilt (13-5)
4	Texas Tech (16-3)
5	Mississippi (16-1)
6	Louisville (13-4)
7	Mississippi State (12-4)
8	Arkansas (11-5)
9	LSU (12-5)
10	Texas (14-3)
11	TCU (11-4)
12	North Carolina State (14-3)
13	UC Santa Barbara (13-2)
14	Virginia (14-4)
15	Miami (12-4)
16	Tennessee (15-2)
17	Georgia Tech (11-5)
18	Oklahoma State (13-5)
19	Arizona (10-5)
20	South Carolina (12-4)
21	Florida State (12-5)
22	West Virginia (11-5)
23	East Carolina (13-4)
24	Georgia (14-4)
25	Wake Forest (10-8)