BATON ROUGE, La.  - LSU is No. 4 in the annual Collegiate Baseball magazine recruiting rankings released on Tuesday, marking the fifth time in six years the Tigers are in the Top 10 of the survey. LSU was No. 1 in 2007 and 2010, No. 3 in 2009 and No. 7 in 2011.

The 15-man recruiting class includes seven pitchers and eight position players and provides exactly what the Tigers need - speed on the bases and in the outfield, power hitting and additional pitching prowess.

"We're very pleased to receive such strong recognition for this class, and it's a credit to the tremendous efforts of our coaching staff," said LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. "Javi Sanchez, Alan Dunn and Will Davis have worked tirelessly to give us a very talented group of players that will impact our program right away."

Two of the new players - infielder Alex Bregman and right-handed pitcher Will LaMarche - were selected in the 2012 MLB Draft and elected to enroll at LSU instead of beginning a pro career.

The newcomers and returning LSU players began their six-week fall practice period on Sunday in Alex Box Stadium, and the full-squad workouts extend through November 5.

The 2013 season opens on Feb. 15 when the Tigers play host to Maryland.

Vanderbilt is No. 1 in the Collegiate Baseball survey, followed by UCLA, Arizona State, LSU, Clemson, Stanford, Florida, North Carolina, Miami (Fla.) and South Carolina.