The Miami Hurricanes gained their second Top 20 Preseason Ranking on Wednesday. Perfect Game ranked the Hurricanes as the No.9 team in the nation, this ranking comes along with Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s poll, which put the Hurricanes at No.20.

In state rivals Florida and Florida State were both ranked in the Top 5, at No.1 and No.5 respectively. Florida, coming off a national championship, is well on its’ way to a consensus No.1 preseason ranking. The Gators will have a loaded roster as they always do, and many in the world of college baseball are very much looking forward to their three-game series vs the Miami Hurricanes at The Light in February.

Meanwhile, up north in Tallahassee, the Florida State Seminoles return much of a roster that carried the Seminoles to a College World Series appearance. The Seminoles are an immensely talented team, and will be a major contender in the ACC.

Miami will face a dogfight in the ACC, with 7 ACC teams ranked in Perfect Game’s Top 25. Miami’s own division within the ACC holds two ranked opponents, No.20 Duke and No.7 North Carolina. While the rest of the ACC’s ranked teams lie in the Atlantic Division, with the aforementioned FSU at No.5, NC State at No.13, Louisville at No.14, and Clemson at No.24.

The Hurricanes schedule is one of the toughest in the nation. The Hurricanes will tangle with Duke, North Carolina, and Clemson for weekend series, and will also play two games against UCF, who is receiving votes in the poll, on mid-week dates. These series are also on the schedule with previously mentioned weekend series with Florida and Florida State. Miami will also gain little rest in the mid-week series, in addition to UCF, Miami faces up and comers FAU and FIU in mid-week games throughout the season, and will also face FGCU, a team that finished 33 in RPI last year, and who nearly swept the Hurricanes on the season.

Ultimately, the Hurricanes will look to avoid another disappointing season, and will have to face one of the toughest conferences in the nation in the process. Miami definitely has the talent to live up to this ranking, and Jim Morris will look to maximize the capabilities of his team in his last season coaching the Hurricanes.