The Angelo State baseball team is the No. 2-ranked team in the Lone Star Conference according to the LSC Preseason poll released by the league office Thursday morning.

The Rams, who finished with a 39-19 overall record and a tie for second in the LSC standings with a 31-13 league record in 2008, received 290 points and four first-place votes on the ballots cast by the LSC's head coaches, sports information directors and various media representatives.

Abilene Christian, the 2008 regular season champion and runner-up in the LSC Championship tournament, received the nod as the preseason favorite with 324 points and 19 first-place votes. Central Oklahoma received two first-place votes and 261 points to come in third in the poll followed by Southeastern Oklahoma with 261 points and Cameron with 228 points to round out the top five.

Texas A&M-Kingsville, the defending conference champion, received two first-place votes and 211 points for sixth in the poll. The rest of the poll finds Tarleton State in seventh with 151 points, Eastern New Mexico in eighth with 145 points, Northeastern State in ninth with 126 points, Southwestern Oklahoma with the remaining first-place vote and 84 points in tenth, East Central in 11th with 67 points and West Texas A&M in 12th with 52 points.

The Rams, the No. 18-ranked team in the Collegiate Baseball Magazine NCAA Division II poll, will kick off their 2009 campaign against No. 9-ranked Ouachita Baptist at Foster Field this weekend. The three-game series between the Rams and Tigers begins with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. Sunday with a nine inning affair followed by a seven inning game.