WICHITA, Kan. - The Wichita State baseball team is ranked 34th in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll released on Dec. 20.

The Shockers return eight starters and seven pitchers from a team that went 39-28 a year ago. 

Junior catcher Tyler Baker hit .328 with 78 hits, 15 doubles, four home runs and 46 RBI last season and earned first team all-Valley honors, while senior outfielder Garrett Bayliff hit .379 with 91 hits, nine doubles, 39 RBI and 11 stolen bases and earned second team all-Valley honors. Both were named third team preseason All-Americans by the NCBWA.

Senior pitcher Cale Elam also returns after being named second team all-Valley last season.  Elam went 7-5 with a 3.17 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 93.2 innings pitched in 2013. 

The Shockers face 12 other teams in 2014 that are ranked or receiving votes in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll including Cal State Fullerton (1^st), Oklahoma State (18^th), Arizona State (22^nd), Kansas State (28^th), UC Santa Barbara (39^th), Coastal Carolina (40^th), Missouri State (RV), Nebraska (RV), Illinois State (RV), Dallas Baptist (RV), Connecticut (RV), and Missouri (RV).

Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

1.     Cal State Fullerton

2.     Mississippi State

3.     LSU

4.     Oregon State

5.     Florida State

6.     Oregon

7.     Indiana

8.     Louisville

9.     Vanderbilt

10.   NC State

11.   North Carolina

12.   Virginia

13.   Miami, Fla.

14.   South Carolina

15.   UCLA

16.   Florida

17.   Rice

18.   Oklahoma State

19.   TCU

20.   Texas

21.   Clemson

22.   Arizona State

23.   Louisiana-Lafayette

24.   Arizona

25.   Texas A&M

26.   Stanford

27.   Cal Poly

28.   Kansas State

29.   Alabama

30.   Mississippi

31.   Western Carolina

32.   Oklahoma

33.   San Diego

34.   Wichita State

35.   Liberty

36.   Tennessee Tech

37.   New Mexico

38.   East Carolina

39.   UC Santa Barbara

40.   Coastal Carolina

-Wichita State-