By: Aaron Kirby
TCU (36-15) is back at #1 after a 3-1 week. TCU picked up a mid week win over Baylor and won 2 of 3 from a solid Utah club. TCU also clinched its 6th strait MWC regular season title.
Fresno St (35-11) slides up 1 spot to #2 after taking all 4 WAC games vs New Mexico St…..Texas St (34-17) also moves up one spot to #3 going 3-1 on week. The Bobcats got beat 15-5 at Texas A&M on Tuesday before sweeping Nicholls St in SLC play. Texas St has a 5 game lead over Stephen F Austin and with only 1 weekend left that means they clinched the regular season in the Southland. …….Troy (37-15) follows those 2 moving up 1 spot to #4 going 3-1 on week. The Trojans won at Florida A&M and won 2 of 3 at Louisiana-Monroe.
One of the hottest teams in the country with a 15.5 game win streak Florida International (35-16-1) moves up 2 spots to #5. FIU picked up a very nice 11 inning 10-9 win at Stetson Wednesday before winning first 2 games vs Arkansas St to extend their win streak to 15 games. The only thing that seems to be able to stop the Golden Panthers is the stupid “travel curfew” as Sunday’s game ended in a 8-8 tie. Just move your games up a couple hours please.
Stetson (39-13) held the top spot last week but dropped to #7 after a 2-3 week. They didnt exactly lose to cupcakes dropping mid week games to FSU and FIU before winning 2 of 3 at Lipscomb but with everyone else behind them having nice week they fall 6 spots.
SE Louisiana (34-19) jump up 2 spots to #8 taking 2 of 3 from Stephen F. Austin……UCONN (36-14-1) enters the top 10 for the first time in long time at #10 with a nice 3-1 week in Big East play. The Huskies finished off last weeks sweep of South Florida on Monday and won 2 of 3 vs a free falling Louisville club and with a 3.5 game lead over St Johns clinch the Big East regular season title.
Dallas Baptist (37-15) continues its push for an atlarge bid going 5-0 on week moving up 3 spots to #13. The Patriots won 8-7 at Stephen F. Austin Tuesday before winning 4 games from Alcorn St. And in case you slept all weekend you might have missed Dallas Baptist’s Jason Krizan set the Division 1 season doubles record with 37 on Friday. The kid is hitting .434 with 92 H, 37 2B, 10 HR, 74 RBI and .516 OB%. Now that is one heck of a year.
Coastal Carolina (34-17) drops 6 spots to #15 losing another Big South road series this week. Losing 2 of 3 at instate rival Wintrop. Winthrop walked off Friday night 3-2 in 10 innings and 6-5 in 13 innings on Saturday.
One of the best turn arounds in the nation continued to win this week. UNCG (31-18) went 4-0 on week moving up to #16. UNCG swept the Citadel in SOCON play this weekend but did not come easy. Up 10-4 on Sunday The Citadel scored 7 runs in the top of the 9th to take a 11-10 lead but UNCG pushed across 2 runs in btm 9th to win 12-11 the winning run coming on a bases loaded HBP. UNCG now sits in 2nd place in Southern Confernce at 19-8 two games behind Elon.
Western Kentucky (30-21) falls 4 spots to #19 losing 2 of 3 to South Alabama…….Sam Houston St (34-19) drop 5 spots to #23 losing 2 of 3 at Central Arkansas……San Jose St (32-21) drops to #22 after losing 3 of 4 at Hawaii. Just moments ago San Jose St led 8-5 going to btm 9th. Hawaii cut it too 8-6 and had bases loaded 2 outs when San Jose St 2nd baseman threw the ball away and all 3 runners scored for 9-8 win for Hawaii. That caps a very wild weekend of baseball.
Only one club fell out of the top 25 this week. Cal St Bakerfield (27-21) drops out of the rankings this week after a 1-3 week. The Roadrunners have been on a bad slide the last month or so. After winning 2 games at UC Davis the weekend of April 15-17 the Roadrunners were 24-8, since that series 3-13.
One club out means just one club in. It came down to 2 teams and Kent St (36-13) gets back into the top 25 at #25 after a 4-0 week. The Golden Flashes took two games from Xavier during the week and won 2 at Bowling Green in MAC play. Kent St is 27-4 since March 23 which along with their current RPI#40 is very impressive.
The other club that probably deserves to be in and that just continues to win is Stony Brook (37-10). The Seawolves swept Binghamton this week and have now won 18 of 19 games and have a 3.5 lead in the American East. Check out the stats of 3 of their starters. Nick Tropeano-10-1, 1.94 ERA, 78.2 IP, 102 Ks and .192 B/avg; Tyler Johnson-8-2, 1.84 ERA, 63.2 IP; Brandon McNitt-7-2, 1.67 ERA, 70 IP. They will not be easy matchup in any regional.
| “Mid-Major Major 25” | 2011 WEEK #14 | ||||
| SCHOOL | (REC) | PVS | (WK) | WEEKS RESULTS-5/9-5/15 | |
| #1 | TCU | (36-15) | #2 | (3-1) | 1-0 Baylor; 2-1 Utah; |
| #2 | Fresno St | (35-11) | #3 | (4-0) | New Mexico St; |
| #3 | Texas St | (34-17) | #4 | (3-1) | 0-1 at Texas A&M; 3-0 Nicholls St; |
| #4 | Troy | (37-15) | #5 | (3-1) | 1-0 at Florida A&M; 2-1 at Louisiana-Monroe; |
| #5 | Florida International | (35-16-1) | #7 | (3-0-1) | 1-0 at Stetson; 2-0-1 Arkansas St; |
| #6 | Elon | (34-18) | #6 | (1-0) | at Old Diminion |
| #7 | Stetson | (39-13) | #1 | (2-3) | 0-1 Florida St; 0-1 FIU; 2-1 at Lipscomb; |
| #8 | SE Louisiana | (34-19) | #10 | (2-1) | Stephen F Austin; |
| #9 | Charlotte | (38-12) | #8 | (2-1) | at LaSalle; |
| #10 | UCONN | (36-14-1) | #11 | (3-1) | 1-0 South Florida; 2-1 Louisville; |
| #11 | Jacksonsville | (32-18) | #12 | (3-0) | 1-0 Bethune-Cookman; 2-0 Florida A&M; |
| #12 | Florida Atlantic | (30-20) | #13 | (3-1) | 1-0 at FGCU; 2-1 Arkansas Little Rock; |
| #13 | Dallas Baptist | (37-15) | #16 | (5-0) | 1-0 at Stephen F. Austin; 4-0 Alcorn St; |
| #14 | Wichita St | (32-24) | #14 | (2-2) | 0-1 Oral Roberts; 2-1 Indiana St; |
| #15 | Coastal Carolina | (34-17) | #9 | (1-2) | at Winthrop; |
| #16 | UNCG | (31-18) | #19 | (4-0) | 1-0 at High Pt; 3-0 Citadel; |
| #17 | College of Charleston | (34-18) | # | (3-1) | 1-0 Citadel; 2-1 App St; |
| #18 | ETSU | (34-17) | #23 | (4-1) | 1-0 UNCA; 0-1 at Clemson; 3-0 Campbell; |
| #19 | Western Kentucky | (30-21) | #15 | (1-2) | South Alabama; |
| #20 | Creighton | (35-13) | #23 | (3-1) | 1-0 Nebraska; 2-1 at Evansville; |
| #21 | Georgia Southern | (29-21) | #21 | (2-0) | Davidson; |
| #22 | San Jose St | (32-21) | #17 | (2-3) | 1-0 Pacific; 1-3 at Hawaii; |
| #23 | Sam Houston St | (34-18) | #18 | (1-2) | at Central Arkansas; |
| #24 | St Johns | (30-17) | #24 | (4-0) | 1-0 NY Tech; 3-0 Georgetown; |
| #25 | Kent St | (36-13) | NR | (4-0) | 2-0 Xavier; 2-0 at Bowling Green; |
| Dropped Out | |||||
| #25 | Cal St Bakersfield | (27-21) | (1-3) | 0-1 Loyola Marymout; 1-2 at UCLA; | |
| Bubbles | |||||
| Stony Brook | (37-10) | ||||
| Gonzaga | (28-14) | ||||
| Hawaii | (30-21) | ||||
| Pittsburgh | (31-19) | ||||
| James Madison | (34-17) |
13 comments
So…you’re saying Cal State Fullerton or UC Irvine are not among the top 25 mid majors in the country? And why are you listing UConn…last I checked they were in the BIG EAST. What in the world are you talking about?!
Well there is just a tiny difference between the Big West and the Big East.u00a0 Cal St Fulerton has been to 16 CWS and 4 titles and LBSU 4u00a0CWS, Pepperdine 2 CSW 2 Title and UCI 1 CWS apperance.u00a0 nnSince regionals have stopped sending a team from the Northeast only 2 Big East schools have made it to CWS.u00a0 Louisville in 2007 and Notre Dame in 2002.u00a0u00a0Since Maine has 7 CWS appearance’s should they be in same class as USC or LSU?nnLets look at some more #s.u00a0 Confernce ISR from 2003-2010nnBig West:u00a0 2010-4, 2009-4, 2008-2, 2007-4, 2006-1, 2005-2, 2004-3, 2003-3nBig East:u00a0 2010-11, 2009-15, 2008-15, 2007-14, 2006-18, 2005-18, 2004-11, 2003-16nnWho is and who is not a “mid-major” willu00a0probably change once TCU joins theu00a0Big East but until then theu00a0Big 6 conferences(ACC, SEC, Pac10, Big12, Big West, CUSA) are way ahead of the rest.u00a0 Thats not to say UCONN or anyone else isu00a0not a good program just not on sameu00a0level as the others.u00a0 u00a0
Ok first off Pepperdine is NOT a Big West member and never has been. They’re a WCC club. To call the Big East a mid major is an insult to a league that has a pretty rich baseball history. Guys like Mo Vaughn, Rich Aurilia and Jeff Samardzija all went to Big East schools and NO ONE considers the league to be a mid-major.nnCal State Fullerton and UC Irvine are mid-majors. CSF has exceeded all expectations with its rich history and perennial ability to get to Omaha, but ultimately they are a mid-major school performing at a high major level. UCI had one ride to the CWS in which everyone, including them, said they were just a little guy on a big stage. Also if the Big West is so “major”, why is it that in your own projections only one team is in? The league is just in an advantageous position…west coast schools in talent-rich areas. If you polled the whole league, the notion of being a “major” conference would be scoffed at.nnMaine having seven CWS titles has nothing to do with this. That’s a completely different era when money didn’t have such a bearing on the playing field. Hell UConn has five CWS appearances, but the last one came when disco was still cool. It should speak volumes when TCU chooses to leave it’s league for Big East membership. I don’t see them calling the Big West for baseball membership….
Really, TCU didn’t join the Big East to play baseball. It was because of the automatic bid for the BCS bowl games.u00a0nnSecond of all, the Big West is much more accomplished then the Big East. Have you seen the facilities that these schools play at? See Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, and Rutgers for a few examples.u00a0nnThe Big East is slowly getting better but for you to pick out three players from the Big East isn’t that big of a deal.nnSince 1980, Cal-State Fullerton has had 48 players see time in the league while UConn has had 11 since they started the sport and seven since 1980.u00a0nnSeton Hall has had 10 players since 1980…nn
Have you seen the facilities at UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, Cal State Northridge. ESPECIALLY UCR?! There’s a reason why they were on Undercover Boss after all. nnI never said the Big West isn’t more accomplished than the Big East, I’m arguing that the BWC has a couple of programs that have outperformed their peers thanks to the stars aligning for them. And I know TCU isn’t leaving for baseball, but the point is they’re leaving to play all their sports in a Big 6 league. And this isn’t sport specific, it’s conference specific. No matter how you sort it out, the Big East is still a BCS conference and is treated as such. They just don’t have great baseball from top to bottom.nnYou’re just associating the Big West with CSF. Take them out and how major is that league really? Respectable yes but major? No.
Have you seen the facilities at UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, Cal State Northridge. ESPECIALLY UCR?! There’s a reason why they were on Undercover Boss after all. nnI never said the Big West isn’t more accomplished than the Big East, I’m arguing that the BWC has a couple of programs that have outperformed their peers thanks to the stars aligning for them. And I know TCU isn’t leaving for baseball, but the point is they’re leaving to play all their sports in a Big 6 league. And this isn’t sport specific, it’s conference specific. No matter how you sort it out, the Big East is still a BCS conference and is treated as such. They just don’t have great baseball from top to bottom.nnYou’re just associating the Big West with CSF. Take them out and how major is that league really? Respectable yes but major? No.
Calling the Big East major in baseball is pushing it as a vast majority of the schools aren’t fully funded, have poor facilities, or don’t even field the sport (ie: Providence College, Syracuse, Marquette, DePaul)
Thats a pure economics issue. I can tell you for a fact that in the Big West, not every program is fully funded. In fact if anything, they’ve had to cut their budgets with the cash woes in the state.nnThose four Big East schools may not have baseball, but that still gives them 12 that do with 13 on the way. Also those four are smaller private schools so they have Title IX issues that would prevent them for fielding a club. Only Syracuse of that four has football as it is. The conference itself is still major and the Big West is not. The BWC has earned it’s place in the baseball world but that place is always tenuous with the big boys floating around.
u00a0My bad on Pepperdine but hopefully you still got my point but i dont think you did.u00a0 nn”no one considers the league to be a mid-major”u00a0 hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhaha thats pretty comical.u00a0 Please provide any stat or evidence for that statement?u00a0 If you poll 98% of people who follow college baseball they will tell you there are the Big 6 Conferences and the rest. Sure the gap is closing and when TCU joins the Big East the label “mid-major” may have to come off. But one season by UCONN does not change their status or the Big East’s. The gap between the top 6 and the rest is big and the #s prove thatnnSo because a few really good players came from a couple schools they should be consider a top conference?u00a0 And Maine has everything to do with the point i was trying to make.u00a0 UCONN has had 1 really good season and now they and the Big East should be mentioned in same group as the Big West or SEC?u00a0nnThe Big East is alot better now then it has beenu00a0in past but it is still not close to level of those top 6.
I would say the Big East is the biggest disappointment. Louisville has had a tough year with a young team and St. John’s isn’t going to get an at-large berth…this was a conference that potentially had 3 teams getting in this year!rnrnBrian FoleyrnSent on the Sprintu00ae Now Network from my BlackBerryu00ae
u00a0I never said UConn is on par with the Big West or SEC. My point is that there is a Big 6 and everyone else. No matter how successful you are outside of those six, you’ll always be labeled as a mid-major. The Big East itself may not be great at baseball, but that doesn’t change its status as one of the major conferences in America. There’s a reason why when a squad like Butler makes back-to-back national title games, people still refer to them as mid-major. The Big West will always have sustained baseball success on the field in spite of their facilities or budgets, but I can guarantee you no one in that league, membership or administrators, refers to themselves as a major conference. They’ve just had a couple of schools outplay the moniker.
I would have to agree with “That Guy” that referencing a conference as nmajor, mid-major or low-major for that matter has more to do with its noverall status than a sport-specific reputation.u00a0 The Big West is nregarded as one of the nation’s top baseball conferences because of its ntradition-rich postseason history, but that doesn’t remove the mid-majorn classification tag.u00a0 The West Coast Conference is still a mid-major nleague despite Gonzaga’s ru00e9sumu00e9 in the Big Dance and the fact they ncharter a plane with a personal chef concocting dishes of unparalleled nyumminess.nnnnSome schools have managed to build reputable programs in spite of their nconference’s status as a whole, and have exceeded expectations taking ninto account the considerable strikes against them in terms of availablen resources.u00a0 It’s why Cal State Fullerton gets so pumped up when they noust an SEC or ACC school from the College World Series.u00a0 The overall nnotion is they weren’t supposed to in the first place.nnnnAs far as the Big East goes, their baseball pedigree may be lacking.u00a0 nHowever, they have access to resources that could make them every bit asn dominant as the SEC and ACC should they choose to go that route.u00a0 They nhave the option thanks to millions and millions in revenue generated by nfootball and men’s basketball.u00a0 nnnnI’d argue the Big East’s biggest menace is weather.u00a0 They play in cold nweather climates for the most part and are disadvantaged compared to ntheir brethren in the west and south.u00a0 But I can guarantee if they nreally wanted to dominate the baseball landscape, they’d find a way to ndo just that.u00a0 They just haven’t chosen to.u00a0 And it’s the ability to nhave that choice which differentiates a high major from a mid-major nconference. u00a0 u00a0u00a0
The last 8 years the Big East’s average ISR is 14.75.u00a0u00a0u00a0We are not talking about Basketball here its baseball.u00a0 Basketball they are #1 heck they should not even be in the BCS anymore.u00a0 nnId rank these conferences ahead of Big East too:u00a0 Sunbelt, WAC, WCC, Southland, Asun, SOCON, and maybe MVC.u00a0
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