By: Aaron Kirby
Fresno St(11-2) and TCU(10-5) continue to flip flop #1 and #2. Week 4 Fresno St jumps back to #1 after a 3-1 week where they beat #20 Cal St Bakersfield mid week before taking 2 of 3 at Nebraska. TCU drops back to #2 after also going 3-1, picking up a mid week win vs UTA and taking 2 of 3 from Houston Baptist. One of the more shocking results of the week, and there were no shortage of them, was previously winless Houston Baptist(0-13) beating TCU and Matt Purke 7-4 on Saturday.
#3 CofC(14-3), #4 Louisville(11-3), and #6 Coastal Carolina(11-5) all stayed put after each having good weeks. CofC went 4-1 with wins over USC Upstate, Ball St and 2 of 3 from Davidson. #4 Louisville dropped mid week game to Purdue before heading to the left coast and getting a very nice sweep of Pepperdine. Coastal went 4-1 picking up mid week wins over Ball St and Wake Forest before finishing up its final early season tourney with wins over Notre Dame and UAB and dropping one to Kent St.
#5 Texas St(12-3) continued its impressive season sweeping Houston. Included in the sweep of Houston was Saturdays 17-15 win where Texas St was down 15-4 heading to the bottom of the 8th inning and scored 8 runs in bottom of 8th and 5 more in the btm 9th to win 17-15. Texas St’s 1B Casey Kalenkosky hit a 3 run HR in btm 8th then finished the unbelievable comeback with a 2 run walk off HR in the bottom of the 9th. Have a day kid. Oh yeah they got another walk off HR on Sunday to finish the sweep. This time a 3 run jack by C Andrew Stumph to win 11-10.
Another Southland club SE Louisiana(12-4) also continued its strong play moving up 1 spot to #7 after a 4-1 week including a mid week win over Louisiana and sweeping UTSA.
Elon(12-5) moved up 2 spots to #8 going 4-1 in the week. Elon dropped a mid week game at UNC but beat St Josephs before going to App St and sweeping their SOCON series.
Wichita St(10-4) dropped one spot to #10 after dropping series at Tulane. Losing Friday 6-5, winning Saturday 1-0 and dropping Sundays rubber match 3-2 in 11 innings.
Before we get to the really bad results of the past week, 4 new clubs joined the rankings this week. Georgia Southern(11-5) reenters the rankings at #17 after going to Gainsville and beating #1 Flordia mid week before sweeping Furman in SOCON play this weekend. The Eagles have another great opportunity this week to make some noise as they travel to Georgia Tech for 2 games mid week before traveling to Alabama to take on Samford in league play.
UNLV(16-3) who is tied for most wins in nation enters the rankings at #18 this week after splitting mid week series with Arizona before winning all 4 games from Valpo for a 5-1 week. ETSU(10-2) comes in at #21 after a 4-0 week. ETSU took care of Furman mid week then traveled to Jacksonville, FL where they swept a very solid North Florida team. The 4th team to enter the poll is #22 Purdue(11-3). Purdue continued its very good start to 2011 with mid week 6-4 win at Louisville and winning 2 of 3 from Tenn Martin. The last spot came down to Purdue and Mercer(13-4) who had the spot untill it took FGCU 16 innings to avoid the sweep on Sunday. Dont worry Mercer you will be in shortly cause some teams are falling hard and fast.
Usually we always are told the bad news first but you get it last this time, and there was plenty of bad this past week. Through 4 weeks of the season the poll no longer will have anyone below .500 and that meant 3 teams were definetly out after this week. #7 St Johns(5-8) had a week to forget and dropped way out. The Red Storm went 0-4 this week dropping mid week games to UNCG and UNC. Then went to Gardner Webb and dropped the first 2 games of series before Sundays game was cancelled. Not sure why but it was?? #16 Hawaii(7-9) dropped out after a 2-3 week which saw the Rainbows drop game to LBSU and split 4 games with Portland. It is yet to be seen if their murderous schedule will benifit them in the end. #22 San Diego(4-9) also has played a very hard schedule to start the year but has not had even the success Hawaii has. The Toreros dropped 3 of 4 to UCONN this week putting them 5 games under .500.
#25 Kennesaw St(10-6) had a short stay going 1-4 this past week losing to Georgia Tech and Vandy mid week before dropping 2 of 3 at Belmont in A-Sun play.
Those clubs were not the only ones to have a week to forget by any stretch. FAU’s(11-6) roller coast start to its season continued. After dropping series to Stony Brook earlier in year FAU dropped 4 spots to #15 after going 1-3 losing mid week to Virginia Tech before dropping home series 1-2 to Seton Hall. WCU(7-6) is falling hard and fast after being rained out most of last week and mid week this week vs Clemson finally got to play and wishes they had gotten rained out again. WCU opened SOCON play traveling to UNCG and got swept out of Greensboro. WCU falls all the way to #24 and will have to earn its spot this week or continue its hard fall as they travel to Kennesaw St mid week before hosting hot Elon in SOCON play. You can push or go all in with 10-9 off suit but you can not call a big bet with 10-9 off suit if you know what i mean. Sam Houston(12-4) held on at #25 after a 2-2 week. Sam Houston picked up big 7-0 win over Rice before dropping 2 of 3 to UT Arlington. There just wasnt a bubble that stepped up and wanted this spot so they live another week. But just like the Catamounts they will have to earn their spot this week or get bounced. Sam Houston plays Houston mid week before heading to Texas St for HUGE Southland series. So this is playoff to stay in rankings for both WCU and Sam Houston, win in your in lose and your out.
3 clubs other clubs that had rough weeks had them for differ reasons. FIU(12-5) went 1-3 this week but only dropped 1 spot to #14. FIU travel to Texas and dropped a mid week game to Rice before losing 2 of 3 to Texas A&M. FIU lost 6-5 in 10 innings on Friday and won 2-1 in 10 innings on Saturday before losing Sundays game 8-5. #19 Cal St Bakersfield(12-5) stayed put even after a 1-3 week. They dropped a mid week game at Fresno St 9-2 before heading to the defending champions, South Carolina, house on the east coast. They definetly held their own and showed they are no joke dropping Fridays game 5-1, and Saturday 5-2 before winning Sundays get a way game 8-3. Louisiana(9-5) also went out west to find the road a little rough going 0-4 on week and dropping 3 spots to #23. Before heading west the Ragin’ Cajuns lost mid week to SE Louisiana and dropped games to Cal, UC Santa Barbra and San Francisco.
You could call this the week of the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY and any comments, questions or cuss words are welcomed.
| “Mid-Major Major 25” | 2011 WEEK #5 | |||
| SCHOOL | (REC) | PVS | WEEK 4 RESULTS-3/7-3/13 | |
| #1 | Fresno St | (11-2) | #2 | (3-1) 1-0 Bakersfield; 2-1 at Nebraska; |
| #2 | TCU | (10-5) | #1 | (3-1) 1-0 UTA; 2-1 Houston Baptist; |
| #3 | College of Charleston | (14-3) | #3 | (4-1) 1-0 SC Upstate; 1-0 Ball St; 2-1 at Davidson; |
| #4 | Louisville | (11-3) | #4 | (3-1) 0-1 Purdue; 3-0 at Pepperdine; |
| #5 | Texas St | (12-3) | #5 | (3-1) 0-1 Baylor; 3-0 Houston |
| #6 | Coastal Carolina | (11-5) | #6 | (4-1) 1-0 Ball St; 1-0 at Wake Forest;0-1 Kent St;1-0 Notre Dame; 1-0 UAB |
| #7 | SE Louisiana | (12-4) | #8 | (4-1) 0-1 Sacred Heart; 1-0 La-Lafayette; 3-0 at UTSA |
| #8 | Elon | (12-5) | #10 | (4-1) 0-1 at UNC; 1-0 St Joseph’s; 3-0 at App St; |
| #9 | Stetson | (12-3) | #12 | (3-1) 1-0 C Michigan; 2-1 at Cambell; |
| #10 | Wichita St | (10-4) | #9 | (1-2) at Tulane; |
| #11 | Pittsburgh | (8-3) | #14 | (5-1) 2-0 at NC A&T; 1-0 C. Michigan; 2-0 Army; 0-1 Michigan St |
| #12 | Troy | (13-3) | #18 | (4-1) 0-1 at Alabama;4-0 New Orleans |
| #13 | Charlotte | (12-3) | #17 | (3-1) 1-0 Tenn Tech; 2-1 Ball St |
| #14 | Florida International | (12-5) | #13 | (1-3) 0-1 at Rice; 1-2 at Texas A&M; |
| #15 | Florida Atlantic | (11-6) | #11 | (1-3) 0-1 Virginia Tech; 1-2 Seton Hall |
| #16 | San Jose St | (12-4) | #23 | (3-1) 0-1 at Pacific; 2-0 UW-Milwaukee;1-0 UC Davis; 1-0 Utah |
| #17 | Georgia Southern | (11-5) | NR | (4-0) 1-0 at Florida; 3-0 Furman |
| #18 | UNLV | (16-3) | NR | (5-1) 1-1 Arizona; 4-0 Valpo |
| #19 | Cal St Bakersfield | (12-5) | #19 | (1-3) 0-1 at Fresno St; 1-2 at South Carolina; |
| #20 | Creighton | (12-3) | #21 | (3-2) 0-1 at Arkansas St; 0-1 at C Arkansas; 3-0 South Dakota St; |
| #21 | ETSU | (10-2) | NR | (4-0) 1-0 Furman 3-0 North Florida |
| #22 | Purdue | (11-3) | NR | (3-1) 1-0 Louisville; 2-1 Tenn Martin |
| #23 | Louisiana | (9-5) | #20 | (0-4) 0-1 at SE Louisiana; 0-1 Cal; 0-1 UC Santa Barbra; 0-1 San Fransico |
| #24 | Western Carolina | (7-6) | #15 | (0-3) at UNCG; |
| #25 | Sam Houston St | (12-4) | #24 | (2-2) 1-0 at Rice; 1-2 UT Arlington; |
| DROPPED OUT | ||||
| #7 | St Johns | (5-8) | #8 | (0-4) 0-1 at NC-Greensboro; 0-1 at UNC; 0-2 at Gardner Webb; |
| #16 | Hawaii | (7-9) | #12 | (2-3) 0-1 at LBSU; 2-2 Portland; |
| #22 | San Diego | (4-9) | #16 | (1-3) Uconn |
| #25 | Kennesaw St | (10-6) | NR | (1-4) 0-1 at Georgia Tech; 0-1 at Vanderbilt; 1-2 at Belmont |
| BUBBLE BOYS | ||||
| Mercer | (13-4) | (2-2) 0-1 Georgia; 2-1 FGCU | ||
| Kent St | (7-6) | (2-1) 1-0 Coastal; 1-0 UAB; 0-1 Notre Dame | ||
| James Madison | (13-3) | (2-2) 0-1 VMI; 2-1 Hofstra | ||
| Georgia State | (13-4) | (4-0) 1-0 UNCA; 3-0 Towson | ||
| Western Kentucky | (13-4) | (2-2) 0-1 Georgia; 2-1 FGCU |
7 comments
Obviously you are entitled to your own opinion it is your poll you can do whatever you want with it I realize it is a huge task to try to put this thing together. I feel there are some other teams that should be getting some recognition here, but even that I have no issue with. I enjoy this poll and I appreciate what you do, but lets get real how in the world can you leave Western Carolina in the poll? I respect that Catamount program and what they have accomplished over the years, but a 7-6 team with no signature wins and an rpi in the 200s your telling me there was no other team you could replace them with? Remember the purpose of a poll is to show you a picture of what you think the standings are right now not what the team has done in the past or even what you think the team will finish like. In my opinion, no matter what argument you use you can’t justify leaving them in.
Obviously you are entitled to your own opinion it is your poll you can do whatever you want with it I realize it is a huge task to try to put this thing together. I feel there are some other teams that should be getting some recognition here, but even that I have no issue with. I enjoy this poll and I appreciate what you do, but lets get real how in the world can you leave Western Carolina in the poll? I respect that Catamount program and what they have accomplished over the years, but a 7-6 team with no signature wins and an rpi in the 200s your telling me there was no other team you could replace them with? Remember the purpose of a poll is to show you a picture of what you think the standings are right now not what the team has done in the past or even what you think the team will finish like. In my opinion, no matter what argument you use you can’t justify leaving them in.
The easy thing to do would have been to just dump them. I had it dead set in my mind that they should drop out of the poll no doubt. Every Sunday i put a ^ next to teams that should move up and arrow pointing down to who should move down and X next to teams that look to be out. When i sat down and looked at all the results i had a X next to these clubsnn#7-St Johnst(5-8)tt (0-4) 0-1 at NC-Greensboro; 0-1 at UNC; 0-2 at Gardner Webb;n#15-Western Carolinat(7-6)t(0-3) at UNCG; n#16-Hawaiit(7-9)tt(2-3) 0-1 at LBSU; 2-2 Portland; n#22-San Diegot(4-9)tt(1-3) Uconnn#25-Kennesaw Stt(10-6) t (1-4) 0-1 at Georgia Tech; 0-1 at Vanderbilt; 1-2 at BelmontnnSt Johns, Hawaii and San Diego were done because the are below .500 and after 4 weeks no club should be in top 25 below .500. Kennesaw went 1-4 and WCU went 0-3. Kennesaw was #25 so it was automatic and that left me with 4 new teams to put in. GSU, UNLV, and ETSU were easy to put in. The 4th was not very easy. The teams i narrowed it down to were Mercer, James Madison, Georgia St and Purdue. I wanted to put Mercer in but do you put a team in that went just 2-2 that week? Not in my mind. Next was James Madison who again went 2-2 losing to VMI and winning 2 of 3 from Hofstra. Again not good enough week to put them in. So that left Georgia St and Purdue. Georgia St went 4-0 on week and is (13-4) overall. They beat UNCA and swept Towson. Not great. So then you have Purdue who went 3-1 beating a very good Louisville team mid week and winning 2 of 3 from UT Martin. Again not great but they did go to Louisville and beat them. So that gave them the edge. So that left me with those 3 team left in my view to take WCU’s spot. nnThis is how i came to my final decision. I had the #15 ranked team and they went 0-3 on the road vs team they should have beaten, now that the team happened to be WCU. In my opinion those 3 teams did not do enough to take the place of the 15th ranked team or the Sam Houston team who lost a home series to UTA but beat Rice mid week. Did i have WCU ranked to high at 15? Sure does look like it. WCU plays Elon this weekend and if they lose all is right with the poll and the same with Sam Houston playing Texas St this weekend. nnI am one of the few who actually like the RPI and i know it is still way too early to look at that. I base my decisions on a week to week basis. RPI should not have much to do with a top 25 poll but has ALOT to do with who gets in the NCAA tourney. Just like the RPI will fix it self with over the season this poll will become clearer the more the season plays out. nnWhen i did the preseason rankings i looked at alot of teams and alot of players to make my decisions and of course i was wrong in a bunch of picks. Take Elon for example. They are playing way above what i thought just like currently WCU is playing very bad but had really not done anything horrible until this past week. nnI know i wont change your mind but just wanted to give you a better idea of the process i use every week and why i made this choice. nnthanksnnnn
Again I appreciate what you do I know it takes a lot of work and I by no means have anything against WCU just didn’t think they should be in right now. You are right things will take care of themselves over the course of the year it is way to early to have any clear idea of who is good or not at this point. Thanks for taking the time to explain your reasoning a lot of people wouldn’t have done that. Another team to keep an eye on in North Carolina (and by no means am I saying they should be in the poll right now, just saying to keep an eye on) is Gardner-Webb. They have some quality wins right now and are sitting at 11-3. Maybe check back after a few weeks of conference play and see how they are doing then.
No problem I knew it was a contoversial decison and i thought a long time about it before finishing the 25 teams. I like to being criticized it definetly helps think everything through and i like to hear what others think. nnIm going to the Kennesaw St and WCU game tomorrow as long as it does not get rained out so ill post what i see. nnSpeaking of polls and something i cant understand. Texas St is (12-3) with a RPI #14(still to early) and just swept Houston and swept Texas A&M CC 2 weeks ago to go with singles wins over Nebraska and Baylor yet not one coach in the USA Today poll voted for them. Not 1 vote. Now that is a real head scratcher. nn
Have you given any consideration to Stony Brook? They took 2 of 3 from FAU to open their season and just won 4 more over the weekend against teams with much higher preseason RPI’s (Michigan and Winthrop). Three of their 4 losses have been to the Tarheels.
I had them on the bubble sheet till they went to 2-4. But i was just looking at who to add to sheet cause the bubble list suddenly got short. They are definetly back on the sheet now so thanks for pointing them out.
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