Feb. 11, 2009

Tennessee is No. 37 in PGCrosschecker.com's 2009 preseason ranking of the nation's top 100 NCAA Division I college baseball teams, which was released Tuesday.

Tennessee was one of nine Southeastern Conference schools ranked in the top 50. LSU took top billing as the No.1 team in the country, with Mississippi at No. 5 and Georgia at No. 8. Vanderbilt (No. 16), Florida (No. 20), Alabama (No. 26), Kentucky (No. 43), Auburn (No. 50) and Mississippi State (No. 76) were the other SEC schools to make the list.

PGCrosschecker.com is the official scouting arm of Perfect Game USA, the world's largest independent baseball scouting service.

Tennessee opens the season with a three-game home series against Oregon State Feb. 20-22.

RECRUITINGCLOSER.COM NAMES UT AS SCHOOL WITH "THE TOTAL PACKAGE"

A study done by Recruitingcloser.com ranked Tennessee's baseball program as the 19th-best value for in-state student athletes and the 21st-best value for out-of-state student athletes.

The study took into consideration which schools offer the most in terms of cost, academic prestige and baseball success. The SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference account for eight of the top 10 teams and 11 of the top 15 teams, due in large part to the success of their baseball teams and the affordability of an education in the Southeast.

Recruitingcloser.com is a Web site dedicated to providing information for high school students and parents of children planning to play collegiate baseball.