Last season, the Arizona baseball team reached its first NCAA postseason since 1999, and this week, the Wildcats saw some of the fruits of their labor.

The UA was picked to finish third in the preseason Pacific 10 Conference coaches' poll and received one first-place vote.

For their part, the players paid the rankings little mind.

"It's nice to see it, but it's not really a big deal," sophomore pitcher Chris Frey said. "It's just polls, and you have to play every day."

"Preseason polls really don't matter, but it's good to have respect from other coaches. I think we'll go out and earn that respect throughout the year," sophomore catcher Nick Hundley said.

Arizona received 47 total votes and trailed only defending Pac-10 champion and national runner-up Stanford and Arizona State.

"It's a nice pat on the back to last year's group, and hopefully this year's group will take that to heart and improve on last year's work and make that poll come true, if not even move up a couple notches," head coach Andy Lopez said.

Along with the Pac-10 conference accolades, the Wildcats enter the 2004 season at No. 16 in the nation, according to Baseball America.

Arizona was also ranked No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball Newsletter and No. 19 in the Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches' poll.

Van Houten receives All-America honor

As for individual preseason recognition, junior outfielder Jeff Van Houten was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association third-team All-American team.

Van Houten returns after a 2003 campaign in which he finished as the Pac-10 batting champion with a .413 average. He also led the team in hits (88), triples (9), and RBI (72) and was named a USA Today Sports Weekly third-team All-American outfielder as a sophomore.

Cats face another grueling schedule

Ever since taking over the program three years ago, it has been Lopez's goal to bring Arizona baseball back into national championship contention, and he said this year's schedule is just another step toward that goal.

The Wildcats play the typically tough Pac-10 schedule but have added an equally tough non-conference schedule.

"We've upgraded our schedule the last couple years, especially this year, because you need to be ready to play Pac-10 ball," Lopez said. "You play good opponents early so you can get ready to play (in conference)."

Four of the seven non-Pac-10 foes reached the NCAA tournament last season, with two advancing to the Super Regionals and one - Cal State Fullerton - making the College World Series.

"(The non-conference schedule) should be fun," Frey said. "If you want to get the program where we want, you have to play the best teams in the country. I don't look at it like a tough schedule - it should be a fun schedule, playing all the best teams."

"We don't want to have any weekend where we are not challenged," Hundley said. "You want to see the best competition you can."

Arizona will hold the annual Alumni Game Saturday but begin regular season play Feb. 6 at home against UC Riverside.