By: Aaron Kirby
The Stetson Hatters (6-1) stay at #1 winning 3 of 4 from Central Michigan.
Two of the biggest stories in college baseball came from the same Mid-Major conference in week #2. One was great for the conference and the other not so.
In 2007 the Appalachian St football team went into the “Big House” and beat #5 Michigan 34-32 to open the season in one of the biggest upsets in college football history. This weekend the Appalachian St (4-2) baseball team travel to LSU for a 3 game series. After dropping game one 4-0, the Mountaineers evened the series with a 1-0 win behind SR RHP Ryan Arrowood 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K. On Sunday App St took the series with a 11-1 win. JR LHP Rob Marcello(Indian River State College) 8.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K picking up the win. In the 2 victories App St held LSU to 1 run on just 7 hits in 18 innings. The Mountaineers enter the rankings at #20.
Georgia Southern (5-2) dropped down one spot to #5 dropping a mid-week game 11-9 to Georgia Tech before winning 2 of 3 from Radford including 2 walk of wins on Saturday. However the Eagles 1st team All-American and potential 1st round draft pick JR OF Victor Roache injured his left arm while diving for ball in outfield during Saturday’s game. More will be known of the extent of the injury this week after he has surgery. GSU will need a player or two to step up in Roache’s absence but don’t count them out just yet.
RISING
- Louisville (6-1) slides up 1 spot to #2 after a 4-0 week. The Cardinals beat E. Kentucky mid week and swept Oakland.
- Texas St (4-3) moves up one spot to #4 with a 3-2 week including winning 2 of 3 at Houston and beating Louisiana-Lafayette mid week.
- Samford (6-2) climbs 3 spots with a 4-1 week. The Bulldogs took 2 of 3 at South Alabama on the weekend. SR OF Brandon Miller hit 2 HRs both Tuesday and Wednesday to bring his season total to 6 already in first 8 games.
- Purdue (5-1) followed their 3-0 record in last weeks Big 10/Big East Challenge with a nice 2-1 showing at the Keith Leclair Classic at ECU and move up 3 spots to #13. Saturday the Boilermakers beat host ECU 6-4 and lost 11-1 to Maryland and finished the tourney by beating Western Carolina 14-7 on Sunday.
- Pepperdine (6-2) jumps up 7 spots to #14 with a 4-1 week including taking 2 of 3 from Fresno St.
- Stony Brook (4-0) opened their 2012 season a week late but that did not stop them from taking care of (2)Alabama St and (2)Nicholls St to move 2 spots up to #15. The Seawolves have a little tougher task this weekend as they head to East Carolina for a 3 game series.
- Coastal Carolina (3-3) slides up one spot #23 with a 2-1 week. After a disappointing 1-2 opening weekend the Chanticleers scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th Sunday and held on for a 3-2 win over NC State to avoid their second consecutive 1-2 tourney. Friday Coastal picked up a 1-0 win over Iowa and lost 3-1 to Virginia Tech on Saturday despite ace Josh Conway’s strong outing.(7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 10 K)
FALLING
- TCU (2-4) drops one spot to #3 after dropping mid week game at Baylor and losing 2 of 3 at Cal St Fullerton. The Horned Frogs won Fridays game at Fulerton 3-2, lost game Saturday 4-2 and lost Sundays game 11-10 which was cut short in 8th inning due to the travel rule. Why do teams not start earlier on Sunday???
- Dallas Baptist (3-4) fell 6 spots to #12 after going 0-4 with midweek loss at Oklahoma St and being swept at Rice (6-5, 2-0, 7-3).
- St Johns (2-4) continues to slide dropping 9 spots to #19. The Red Storm beat N. Illinios and lost twice to Texas Tech.
- Fresno St (4-4) drop 6 spots to #21 with a 1-3 week. The Bulldogs lost mid week to Cal St Bakersfield and lost 2 of 3 at Pepperdine.
- Creighton (3-2) fall 3 spots to #22 losing 2 games out west to Portland.
- Florida International (1-5) hangs on to top 25 dropping 5 spots to #25. FIU lost 2 of 3 at Florida St after being swept by another national top 10 ranked Rice opening weekend. FIU took the opener in Tallahassee 8-5 before losing 3-1 on Saturday and 2-1 on Sunday.
OUT
- #22 UNCW (2-5) drops out of rankings after losing 4 tough road games this week.(at NC State and 3 games at Ole Miss)
- #23 UCONN (2-4) falls out going 1-2 at CofC’s tourney. The Huskies beat Xavier to start the weekend then lost to CofC and Rhode Island.
- #25 Belmont (3-4) gets knocked out going 1-3 on week with loses to Oregon, Arkansas-Little Rock and Bradley.
IN
- Gonzaga (7-0) jumps in the rankings at #18 going 4-0 with 2 wins over both Illinois and at Lamar.
- SE Louisiana (7-0) get in at #24 with mid week win over Louisiana-Lafayette and sweeping Eastern Illinois.
NOTES
- Rhode Island (4-2) made a statement in Charleston, SC this weekend going 3-0 in the Cougar Invitational. The Rams won the tourney beating CofC 9-5 on Friday, Xavier 8-4 Saturday and beating UCONN 2-0 Sunday. The last spot in top 25 came down to SE Louisiana, Rhode Island and San Francisco.
- Another team wanted to also mention was Bucknell (4-2) who went to James Madison and won 3 of 4 this weekend.
| Mid-Major Top 25- Week 2 | ||||
| RNK | SCHOOL | (REC) | PVS | (WK) |
| Weeks Results-2/20-2/26 | ||||
| #1 | Stetson | (6-1) | #1 | (3-1) |
| 3-1 C. Michigan; | ||||
| #2 | Louisville | (6-1) | #3 | (4-0) |
| 1-0 E. Kentucky; 3-0 Oakland; | ||||
| #3 | TCU | (2-4) | #2 | (1-3) |
| 0-1 at Baylor; 1-2 at Cal St Fulerton; | ||||
| #4 | Texas St | (4-3) | #5 | (3-2) |
| 1-0 La-Lafayette; 0-1 Baylor; 2-1 at Houston; | ||||
| #5 | Georgia Southern | (5-2) | #4 | (2-2) |
| 0-1 Georgia Tech; 2-1 Radford; | ||||
| #6 | College of Charleston | (5-1) | #7 | (2-1) |
| 0-1 Rhode Island; 1-0 UCONN; 1-0 Xavier | ||||
| #7 | Kent St | (4-2) | #9 | (2-1) |
| 2-1 at Lipscomb; | ||||
| #8 | Florida Atlantic | (6-1) | #12 | (3-1) |
| 3-1 Manhattan; | ||||
| #9 | Troy | (3-3) | #8 | (1-2) |
| 1-2 at Southern Miss; | ||||
| #10 | Samford | (6-2) | #13 | (4-1) |
| 1-0 Alabama A&M; 1-0 at Jack St; 2-1 at South Alabama; | ||||
| #11 | Charlotte | (5-2) | #11 | (2-2) |
| 0-1 at High Point; 2-1 Toledo; | ||||
| #12 | Dallas Baptist | (3-4) | #6 | (0-4) |
| 0-1 at Oklahoma St; 0-3 at Rice; | ||||
| #13 | Purdue | (5-1) | #16 | (2-1) |
| 1-0 at ECU; vs 0-1 Maryland; 1-0 vs Western Carolina | ||||
| #14 | Pepperdine | (6-2) | #21 | (4-1) |
| 2-0 VCU; 2-1 Fresno St; | ||||
| #15 | Stony Brook | (4-0) | #17 | (4-0) |
| 2-0 Alabama St; 2-0 Nicholls St; | ||||
| #16 | Jacksonville | (2-5) | #14 | (2-2) |
| 0-1 at Florida St; 2-1 Northeastern; | ||||
| #17 | Missouri St | (5-3) | #18 | (3-1) |
| 2-0 Stephen F Austin; 1-0 UT-Arlington; 0-1 Houston Baptist | ||||
| #18 | Gonzaga | (7-0) | NR | (4-0) |
| 2-0 vs Illinois; 2-0 at Lamar; | ||||
| #19 | St Johns | (2-4) | #10 | (1-2) |
| 0-2 at Texas Tech; 1-0 vs Northern Illinois; | ||||
| #20 | Appalachian St | (4-2) | NR | (2-1) |
| 2-1 at LSU; | ||||
| #21 | Fresno St | (4-4) | #15 | (1-3) |
| 0-1 at Cal St Bakersfield; 1-2 at Pepperdine; | ||||
| #22 | Creighton | (3-2) | #19 | (0-2) |
| 0-2 at Portland; | ||||
| #23 | Coastal Carolina | (3-3) | #24 | (2-1) |
| 1-0 Iowa; 0-1 Virginia Tech; 1-0 NC State | ||||
| #24 | SE Louisiana | (7-0) | NR | (4-0) |
| 1-0 La-Lafayette; 3-0 Eastern Illinois; | ||||
| #25 | Florida International | (1-5) | #20 | (1-2) |
| 1-2 at Florida St; | ||||
| Dropped Out | ||||
| #22 | UNC-Wilimington (2-5) | |||
| #23 | UCONN(2-4) | |||
| #25 | Belmont(3-4) | |||
| Bubbles | ||||
| San Francisco (5-2) Rhode Island (4-2) | ||||
| Liberty (8-1) | ||||
| San Diego (5-2) | ||||
| Portland (5-0) | ||||
| Mercer (8-1) | ||||
| UNCG (7-0) | ||||
| Wichita St (5-3) | ||||
| Santa Clara (6-2) | ||||
| Bethune-Cookman (4-3) | ||||
| UCONN (2-4) | ||||
| Texas A&M CC (6-2) | ||||
18 comments
Hatters? Not Haters!
If thats the only complaint so far then must not have done good job on poll.
Here is list of bubble teams going into week #3. If there is a team i dont have listed and you think they should be state their case.
Santa Clara(6-2)
Liberty(8-1)
Elon(4-3)
Sam Houston St(4-3)
UCONN(2-4)
Louisiana-Monroe(6-2)
Michigan St(4-3)
Bethune-Cookman(4-3)
San Francisco(5-2)
Austin Peay(4-3)
Maine(1-2)
Hawaii(6-3)
San Diego(5-2)
Notre Dame(5-1)
Portland(5-0)
New Mexico St(7-3)
Mercer(8-1)
Rhode Island(4-2)
UNCG(7-0)
Cal St Bakersfield(4-3)
Wichita St(5-3)
USC Upstate (6-1) with only loss to Kentucky
Ill put them on list and keep track of them. I was just looking at their schedule and wow that is not a good schedule at all. They play Georgia State tomorrow who is ok.
Mercer should be top 25. They are equal if not better than Jacksonville. Should have gotten an auto bid into the tournament last year. That will change this year. The program is on the rise and continues to play great baseball for a mid major. Time to start showing some respect. They play Georgia Southern today. The same Ga Southern team they thumped last year 14-1 in Statesboro.
Im going to watch the Mercer at GSU game tonight. There are atleast 4 other bubble teams that are in front of Mercer. Mercer has 8 wins vs bad teams. (3)Morehead St, (2) Florida A&M, (3) Presbyterian. Mercer is in same boat with Liberty. They have beaten up on teams that are not that good.
#1-San Francisco(5-2)-won 2 of 3 vs San Jose St and swept Mizzo
#2-Rhode Island(4-2)-beat CofC and UCONN
#3-San Diego(5-2)-Beat Oregon St and Kansas St
#4-Portland(4.5-0)-beat Creighton twice
FYI they are not playing the same GSU team. While GSU will still be good they just lost 1st team all american and probably 1st round draft pick.
Yes they have played marginal teams but the beat presbyterian soundly…and UGA struggled against presbyterian to say the least. anyway, love you overage….and go bears!!!!
I hope you watched that Georgia Southern game tonight because Mercer dominated in a 12-4 win.
LOL i actually was not able to catch much of it but did get report on it. Good win for Mercer. Both Mercer and Liberty(beat UVA 8-0) got big wins tonight. I like to use this quote, “Im almost always, eventually right” 🙂
Mercer is for real…..you heard it here first….move them up in the rankings. Asun will be between Stetson and mercer.
Mercer lost 2 of 3 at High Point not very good
Can you
Can you pick a team for #1 that plays at least 1 team with any type of baseball success.
Stetson plays the softest out of conference schedule every year.
The Atlantic Sun is weak
Then they save weekend starting pitching for weekday events against the 2 or3 legit opponents they face
You contradict yourself. You say the play the softest out of conference schedule every year but then say they save their best starters for mid week? Now that does not make much sense. Unless you mean they play soft weekend schedule until conference starts.
I guess you missed last year. I agree Stetson has a pretty soft schedule to start the year but their mid week schedule is very solid especially when they start conference play. They have 9 what id call good RPI games. (4) vs FSU, (2)UCF, (2)USF, Miami and (2) vs Bethune-Cookman. Last year they played a total of 10 RPI games. (3)UGA, (2)FSU, (2)UCF, (2)USF, FIU and then also (4) vs Bethune and (3) Maine.
Also the A-Sun is not weak by any means. Stetson, Jacksonville, Mercer, FGCU, Kennesaw St, ETSU, North Florida and Belmont are very solid.
I don’t understand how Liberty is not in. They only have one loss to a not-so easy cupcake in Siena. They beat UVA and The Citadel. I know you’re probably waiting to see how LU plays against St. Johns before handing them a ranking but there are several teams on your list that do not deserve to be above LU.
That Virginia game was after the poll came out!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Like Brian said they beat UVA this week. Liberty was the 3rd team out behind Rhode Island(won all 3 games at CofC) and San Francisco. San Francisco would was easily in front of Liberty until this week. SF won 2 of 3 at San Jose St week 1 and swept Missouri last week. Both RI and SF beat better opponents. Liberty right now is the next in the way this week has gone. However a spot will need to open. “several teams on your list that do not deserve to be above LU”? Who might they be? Your probably thinking Jacksonville who entered week (2-5) and FIU who entered week (1-5). 4 of Jacksonville’s losses were (3) at USC and CofC. FIU opened at Rice and at FSU. Ill take FIU’s 1-5 record vs those 2 than Liberty’s 8-1. Dont get me wrong i love what Liberty is doing just taking them little longer to get in.
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