Texas Tech baseball will begin the 2021 season ranked third in the Perfect Game Preseason Top 25, the publication announced Wednesday as part of its college baseball preview.

The Red Raiders have now been ranked in the top five in each of the first two 2021 preseason polls as Collegiate Baseball Newspaper slotted them at No. 4 on Dec. 21.

It's the fourth consecutive year Tech has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the preseason, which matches the highest start in program history.  

Perfect Game has now placed Tech in the top five of its last four preseason polls. The Red Raiders opened at No. 4 in 2018, No. 5 in 2019 and at No. 3 entering last season. 

Tech is coming off a promising season that was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Red Raiders opened with a 16-3 record that featured impressive wins over No. 9 Florida State, No. 15 Stanford and Houston. The hot start put the Red Raiders on top of the CB Newspaper poll at one point for the program's first No. 1 ranking since 1997.

Tech is the highest of two Big 12 teams in the poll with Texas checking in at No. 22. Florida and Louisville top the rankings.

Individual preseason honors have already started pouring in for the Red Raiders as Micah Dallas, Dylan Neuse and Cal Conley have all received preseason All-America status. Dallas was placed on second teams by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Perfect Game, while Neuse and Conley were tabbed to Collegiate Baseball's third team.

Entering his ninth year as head coach, Tim Tadlock has established his alma mater as a national powerhouse as the Red Raiders have claimed three of the last four Big 12 titles and advanced to three of the last four College World Series. Tech opened the 2020 season with a 16-3 record and an appearance at No. 1 in the polls before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.