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College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2001 STANFORD NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER (www.baseballnews.com) POLL STANFORD, Calif. — Led by the return of all nine position player starters and key pitchers off a team that finished second in the nation last year, Stanford is the favorite to win the 2002 College World Series, according Collegiate Baseball Newspaper in its Fabulous 40 Pre-Season poll. The team features five Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-Americans. The Cardinal, which has now finished second at the College World Series the last two years and third in the nation in 1999, has appeared in the CWS four of the last five years. If Stanford makes another appearance this season, it will be the first time in school history that the Cardinal has qualified for the College World Series four consecutive years. What makes this Stanford team so appealing to many coaches is their defense. No Cardinal baseball team in 108 years of baseball at the school has ever had a better year defensively than last season. Stanford posted a .977 fielding percentage, best in school history and tops in the nation. Only 60 errors were committed in 68 games with spectacular play after spectacular play taking place. Even more telling was that Stanford was errorless in 33 of its 68 games. When the pressure was really on, the Cardinal was errorless in seven of 12 post-season games. When you factor in another outstanding pitching staff led by Louisville Slugger pre-season All-American RHP Jeremy Guthrie (13-4, 2.82 ERA) and All-American closer J.D. Willcox (6 SV, 5-0, 2.06 ERA), optimism runs extremely high. The "Collegiate Baseball" Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season. (Top 40 Agate Follows)
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