Where Clemson landed in Baseball America's 'way too early' top 25 college rankings

CLEMSON — Despite losing key players to expiring eligibility and the MLB draft , Clemson baseball landed at No. 4 in Baseball America' s "way too early" top 25 rankings Wednesday.

The Tigers sit behind only No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Florida State. Star center fielder Cam Cannarella and pitcher Aidan Knaak, both of whom received All-America honors last season, will lead Clemson in 2025. The team also added three home-run hitters via the portal to replace the production of a senior class that combined for 67 homers last season.

Eight ACC teams made the rankings, including No. 6 Virginia, No. 9 Duke, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 13 NC State, No. 22 Stanford and No. 25 Wake Forest. The conference had the second- most teams in the early 2025 rankings; the SEC has 11.

Last season, the Tigers (44-16) won the ACC's Atlantic Division and made the NCAA tournament as a No. 6 overall seed to host their own regional for the second straight season. They went 3-0 in the Clemson Regional, defeating No. 4 seed High Point and No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina twice to advance to the NCAA super regionals for the first time since 2010.

Clemson lost two straight to Florida in the Clemson Super Regional, but the program has shown immense growth under coach Erik Bakich, who received a two-year contract extension Thursday. The Tigers finished No. 9 in last season's final USA TODAY Sports Baseball Coaches Poll too, its highest finish since 2010.

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Where Clemson landed in Baseball America's 'way too early' top 25 college rankings