June 25, 2003

NC State's baseball team is No. 12 in Collegiate Baseball's final rankings after advancing to the NCAA Super Regional and finishing the season with a 45-18 record overall and a 15-9 ACC mark. The ranking is the second highest final ranking for NC State behind only the 1968 squad when it finished third after a trip to the College World Series. The Wolfpack held steady in the rankings all season, pushing into the top-10 the latter half of the season.

Coach Elliott Avent's seventh season started with little national fanfare after losing two starting pitchers to injury before the season in Daniel Caldwell and Derek McKee. The team was coming off of a 33-26 (7-17 in ACC) showing, and after the 2003 season kicked off, this veteran team used the arms of two talented youngsters, redshirt freshman Michael Rogers (12-3, 3.02 ERA) and true freshman Joey Devine (14 saves, 2.19 ERA), along with another first year player in JUCO pitcher Vern Sterry (11-0, 3.25), to put together one of the finest seasons in Wolfpack baseball history.

Rank School (Record)	Points	Previous
1. Rice (58-12)	 495	 1
2. Stanford (51-18)	493	 3
3. Cal. St. Fullerton (50-16)	490	 2
4. Texas (50-20)	487	 5
5. Miami, Fla. (45-17-1)	485	 6
6. South Carolina (45-22)	484	 7
7. Louisiana St. (45-22-1)	483	 4
8. S.W. Missouri St. (40-26)	480	 8
9. Florida St. (54-13-1)	479	 9
10. Arizona St. (54-14)	477	10
11. Long Beach St. (41-20)	474	11
12. North Carolina St. (45-18)	471	12
13. Baylor (45-23)	469	13
14. Georgia Tech. (44-18)	465	14
15. Nebraska (47-18)	457	15
16. Houston (37-30)	449	16
17. Texas A&M (45-19)	444	17
18. Ohio St. (44-21)	442	18
19. North Carolina (42-23)	439	19
20. Auburn (42-21)	438	20
21. Richmond (48-15)	436	21
22. Lamar (40-18)	435	22
23. Florida Atlantic (47-16)	432	23
24. Mississippi St. (42-20-1)	429	24
25. Southern Miss. (47-16)	427	25
26. Nevada-Las Vegas (47-17)	424	26
27. Washington (42-18)	421	27
28. Notre Dame (45-18)	418	28
29. South Alabama (42-19)	415	29
30. U.C. Riverside (41-17)	412	30