By: Aaron Kirby
For the second week in a row there is a new #1. TCU (11-6) moves up 2 spots to take over the top spot. The Horned Frogs had a perfect 5-0 week, beating Texas Tech on Tuesday, winning at UTSA Wednesday and sweeping UNLV on the road to open Mountain West play.
RISING
- Dallas Baptist (13-6) moves up 1 spot to #7 after an impressive 4-0 week. On Tuesday the Patriots scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to pick up a big win over Oklahoma 7-6. The Patriots then headed east to Charlotte, NC where they took all 3 games from Charlotte.
- Pepperdine (14-5) also moves up 1 spot to #8 with a 3-1 week. The Waves beat UC-Irvine 3-2 at Dodger Stadium Tuesday, beat Columbia Wednesday and split the 2 games they got in with Kent St. Pepperdine and Kent St will play the 3rd game of series on Monday due to rain in California this weekend.
- Florida Atlantic (14-5) jumps up 7 spots to #10 with a 4-0 week. After beating Fordham Tuesday the Owls traveled to rival Florida International and swept the opening Sun Belt series at FIU by the scores of 5-1, 9-5, and 9-3.
- Appalachian St (17-3) continues to play very good baseball and climbs 2 spots to #11. The Mountaineers picked up a 6-3 win at Duke on Tuesday before traveling to South Carolina on Wednesday. After scoring 4 runs in the top of 1st vs the Gamecocks the Mountaineers were unable to hold on and lost 6-4. App St then swept Citadel in Boone over the weekend in Southern Conference play.
- Liberty (20-3) moves up 1 spot to #15 with a 4-1 week. The 20 wins is good for #2 in the country behind only Kentucky at 21-0. The Flames lost to Bryant Tuesday, beat James Madison Wednesday and swept their opening series in the Big South at Presbyterian.
- Western Carolina (15-5) moves up 5 spots to #19 after a 3-1 week. The Catamounts picked up a big 8-4 win over Clemson Wednesday then headed to Jacksonville, Fl for the Wingate Invitational. WCU dropped the opening game 5-2 to Jacksonville Friday night, beat Jacksonville 2-1 Saturday and beat Fairfield 10-3 on Sunday.
- A few clubs had good weeks but due to other teams also having good weeks around them, did not move in rankings. #4 Purdue (14-3) stayed on the road in week 5 picking up a 4-2 win at Missouri St mid week and split 4 games at Wichita St over the weekend……#5 Missouri St (15-4)dropped the mid week game to Purdue then travel to Oral Roberts and won three out of four games……#6 Louisville (14-6) split 2 mid week games vs Ole Miss and swept Ball St on the weekend.
FALLING
- Texas St (13-6) dropped one spot to #2 with a 2-2 week. The Bobcats lost 6-1 at Texas on Tuesday and won 2 of 3 vs Stephen F. Austin in Southland play including a 8-6 loss in 10 innings on Saturday.
- Stetson (15-4) slid one spot to #3 going 3-1 on the week. The Hatters beat Harvard mid week and won 2 of 3 vs Rutgers. Saturday Stetson was down 3-0 heading to btm of 9th against Rutgers and scored 4 runs to win the game.
- Samford (13-8) falls 3 spots to #13. The Bulldogs lost a heart breaker at Alabama on Wednesday. Leading 5-1 in the 9th inning with their All American closer LHP Lex Rutledge on mound Alabama scored 5 runs on only 2 hits to pull out a 6-5 win over Samford. In Southern Conference play the Bulldogs won 2 of 3 vs Furman.
- Gonzaga (12-6) dropped on spot to #16 with a 2-3 week. After winning 10 strait to start the season the Zags lost 5 in row. The last 2 loses of that streak came in two well played ball games at Arkansas this week(1-0 and 5-3 loses). The Bulldogs got back in the win column on Friday vs Pacific and won the weekend series 2-1.
- Troy (9-9) tumbles 6 spots to #17 losing 2 of 3 at South Alabama to open Sun Belt play.
OUT
- #20 Elon (12-8) drops out of rankings with a 2-3 week. The Phoenix lost 8-1 vs NC State on Tuesday, won 5-4 at North Carolina A&T on Wednesday, and lost 2 of 3 at Davidson in SOCON play. Elon won Friday night 10-2 then suffered 2 extra inning loses. Saturday they scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th to take a 11-9 lead only to see Davidson score 3 runs in the bottom half to win. Sunday Elon again took a lead in the 11th. Up 8-7 in the 11th Davidson once again fought back and scored 2 runs to pull off another dramatic win over Elon.
- #21 Florida International (8-10) falls out after a 1-4 week including being swept at home by rival Florida Atlantic.
- #22 Charlotte (10-10) drops out of rankings after being swept at home by Dallas Baptist. Last year the 49ers traveled to Texas and lost 2 of 3 to Dallas Baptist. This year the Patriots traveled to North Carolina and swept the 49ers by the scores of 6-4, 3-0, and 8-3.
- #23 North Florida (13-7) went 2-3 on the week splitting 2 games at FIU and losing 2 of 3 at FGCU in Atlantic Sun play.
IN
- It did not take Southeastern Louisiana (15-6) long to get back into the rankings. The Lions get back in at #21 after a very good week were they traveled to Mississippi St and swept a 2 game mid week series by the scores of 4-3 and 5-1. The continued playing well over the weekend traveling to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and took 2 of 3 in opening Southland series losing 4-0 on Sunday.
- Coastal Carolina (13-6) also gets back in the rankings at #22. The Chanticleers had a prefect 5-0 week beating CofC 5-1 Wednesday and beating Michigan twice, UCONN and UAB in their final early season tournament the Coastal Carolina Classic.
- Indiana St (16-4) enters the rankings for the first time at #23. The Sycamores are one of the hottest teams in the country with an 11 game winning streak and have won 16 of 17 games. The Sycamores went 5-0 this past week with wins over SIU Edwardsville, Kansas, Houston Baptist and 2 wins vs Notre Dame.
- Nebraska (14-7) comes in at #24 with a 5-1 week. The Cornhuskers beat California 9-5 on Monday to start the week, beat S. Dakota St 12-3 Tuesday and won 3 of 4 vs Louisiana Tech.
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| Mid-Major Top 25- Week 5 | ||||
| RNK | SCHOOL | (REC) | PVS | (WK) |
| Weeks Results 3/12-3/18 | ||||
| #1 | TCU | (11-6) | #3 | (5-0) |
| 1-0 Texas Tech; 1-0 at UTSA; 3-0 at UNLV; | ||||
| #2 | Texas St | (13-6) | #1 | (2-2) |
| 0-1 at Texas; 2-1 Stephen F. Austin; | ||||
| #3 | Stetson | (12-3) | #2 | (3-1) |
| 1-0 Harvard; 2-1 Rutgers; | ||||
| #4 | Purdue | (14-3) | #4 | (3-2) |
| 1-0 at Missouri St; 2-2 at Wichita St; | ||||
| #5 | Missouri St | (16-5) | #5 | (4-1) |
| 0-1 Purdue; 3-1 at Oral Roberts; | ||||
| #6 | Louisville | (14-6) | #6 | (4-1) |
| 1-1 Mississippi; 3-0 Ball St; | ||||
| #7 | Dallas Baptist | (13-6) | #8 | (4-0) |
| 1-0 Oklahoma; 3-0 at Charlotte; | ||||
| #8 | Pepperdine | (14-5) | #9 | (3-1) |
| 1-0 UC Irvine; 1-0 Columbia; 1-1 Kent St; | ||||
| #9 | College of Charleston | (15-5) | #7 | (3-2) |
| 0-1 UNCW; 0-1 at Coastal Carolina; 3-0 Wofford; | ||||
| #10 | Florida Atlantic | (14-5) | #17 | (4-0) |
| 1-0 Fordham; 3-0 at Florida International; | ||||
| #11 | Appalachian St | (17-3) | #13 | (4-1) |
| 1-0 at Duke; 0-1 at South Carolina; 3-0 Citadel; | ||||
| #12 | Kent St | (8-7) | #12 | (1-1) |
| 1-1 at Pepperdine; | ||||
| #13 | Samford | (13-8) | #10 | (2-2) |
| 0-1 at Alabama; 2-1 Furman; | ||||
| #14 | San Diego | (17-6) | #14 | (4-2) |
| 1-1 Indiana; 3-1 Columbia; | ||||
| #15 | Liberty | (20-3) | #16 | (4-1) |
| 0-1 Bryant; 1-0 James Madison; 3-0 at Presbyterian; | ||||
| #16 | Gonzaga | (12-6) | #15 | (2-3) |
| 0-2 at Arkansas; 2-1 Pacific; | ||||
| #17 | Troy | (9-9) | #11 | (1-2) |
| 1-2 at South Alabama; | ||||
| #18 | Santa Clara | (13-4) | #18 | DNP |
| #19 | Western Carolina | (15-5) | #24 | (3-1) |
| 1-0 Clemson; 1-1 at Jacksonville; 1-0 vs Fairfield | ||||
| #20 | Stony Brook | (11-6) | #19 | (4-1) |
| 1-0 Iona; 3-1 Yale; | ||||
| #21 | SE Louisiana | (15-6) | NR | (4-1) |
| 2-0 Mississippi St; 2-1 at TAMCC; | ||||
| #22 | Coastal Carolina | (13-6) | NR | (5-0) |
| 1-0 Collge of Charleston; 2-0 Michigan; 1-0 UCONN; 1-0 UAB | ||||
| #23 | Indiana St | (16-4) | NR | (5-0) |
| 1-0 SIU Edwardsville; 1-0 Kansas; 1-0 Houston Baptist; 2-0 Notre Dame | ||||
| #24 | Nebraska | (14-7) | NR | (5-1) |
| 1-0 California; 1-0 S. Dakota St; 3-1 Louisiana Tech | ||||
| #25 | SC Upstate | (15-3) | #25 | (3-2) |
| 0-1 at Charlotte; 0-1 at Furman; 3-0 Lipscomb; | ||||
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| dropped out | ||||
| #20 | Elon | (12-8) | ||
| #21 | FIU | (8-10) | ||
| #22 | Charlotte | (10-10) | ||
| #23 | North Florida | (13-7) | ||
| bubbles | ||||
| Portland | (13-3) | |||
| UT-Arlington | (13-8) | |||
| Campbell | (18-3) | |||
| Belmont | (13-8) | |||
| Illinois St | (13-5) | |||
| Elon | (12-8) | |||
| North Dakota St | (12-5) | |||
| New Mexio St | (15-8) | |||
| Wichita St | (12-10) | |||
| Mercer | (14-7) | |||
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23 comments
The last 2 spots came down to these clubs.
Belmont (13-8) (4-1)
1-0 MTSU; 1-0 Valparaiso; 2-1 at ETSU;
Portland (13-3) (3-1)
1-0 at Washington; 2-1 Cal St Northridge;
Campbell (18-3) (5-0)
2-0 Rider; 3-0 Longwood
Nebraska(14-7) (5-1)
1-0 California; 1-0 S. Dakota St; 3-1 Louisiana Tech
UT-Arlington (13-8) (3-1)
1-0 Baylor; 2-1 at Lamar
Indiana St (16-4) (5-0)
1-0 SIU Edwardsville; 1-0 Kansas; 1-0 Houston Baptist; 2-0 Notre Dame
poll is garbage
Since the only schools that have been listed or mentioned in poll, that are Cougars, College of Charleston and Southern Illinois you must be talking about CofC dropping 2 spots. Since you have such nice things to say about the poll i will explain why they dropped 2 spots. Im sure you are well aware that CofC lost 2 mid week games to UNCW and at Coastal before sweeping Wofford. That is not the reason they dropped the reason they dropped is because 2 teams jumped them in standings for having very good weeks not just so so weeks like CofC.
Dallas Baptist jumped CofC because they beat nationally ranked Oklahoma and traveled to East Coast and swept Charlotte.
Pepperdine jumped CofC because the beat UC-Irvine mid week and split 2 games with Kent St.
Surely that explanation makes sense right? If not please state CofC’s case for being higher than #9.
Nice win for Dallas Baptist over Oklahoma, the same team that got swept by Texas this weekend at home. Yes, the same Texas team that entered the weekend 7-8. Great job in the sweep over 10-10 Charlotte.
Oh, and Kent State is 8-7, nice job Pepperdine.
Makes perfect sense. Classic
It does make perfect sense. You really are trying to say Dallas Baptist and Pepperdine did not have far better weeks than CofC?? My bad Oklahoma is not a very good team and neither is Texas.
Their weeks were not that special but don’t let facts get in the way. Keep up the great work on this outstanding poll.
They are not special just alot better than CofC’s week.
Southeastern LA swept SEC then ranked#21 Miss St @ home this past week. Bama visits Hammond next month. SLU a solid squad-defense and pitching in 2012 versus offensive club of 2011. Will come down to NOT CHOKING at S’Land tourney to get into a deserved regional. SLU has to beat TX St(top rated team inS’Land) Even with their tough schedule year in and year out–its seems 40 Wins never gets them an at large bid! The Lions must win the conference tournament to get in! Easily a mid-top 25 Mid-Major club in 2012
SLU lost 2 of 3 at a decent Nicholls St club then sweeps Miss St 2 mid week games and wins 2 of 3 at TAMCC. They only lost the 2 games to Nicholls St by a combined 3 runs but need to avoid those weekends to get an atlarge. The Southland again is a very strong conference. Texas St and SE Louisiana are going to be in the regional mix for sure.
Stetson is 15-4 not 12-3.
Thanks didnt fix it when tallied up the 3-1 weeks results.
Do you have a feel for the top 5 or so starters in mid-majors yet?
That is a hard question. I check some of the guys i know but there are probably 30 more that are having great years. Any of Texas St’s starters
Here are some…..
Kurt Schluter(Stetson)
Ty Blach(Creighton)
Marco Gonalez(Gonzaga)
Colton Turner(Texas St), Kyle Finnegan(Texas St) and Travis Belew(Texas St)
Rayan Gonzalez(Bethune-Cookman)
Ryan Garton(FAU)
Ray(Troy)
Christian Powell(CofC)
Zimmer(San Francisco)
David Starn(Kent St)
Brandon McNitt and Tyler Johnson(Stony Brook)
Zeigler(Louisiana-Monroe
Dylan Clark(Elon)
Chris Beck(Georgia Southern)
Don’t forget Lance Day at UT Arlington. He leads the nation in victories.
Yup i did leave him off list for some reason but he should be on there. I think he has 6 wins right? Thats a decent # for entire season let alone first month.
God I hate saying this because the last time I whined about it UT Arlington had a horrible week. But I just can not for the life of me understand why you don’t have them in the top 25 of this poll. They are 3-0 against the Big 12 (OU, Baylor, Texas who were all ranked at the time) and Boyd’s World has them ranked ahead of half the teams you have listed in the top 10….ahead of the majority of teams you have in all 25 slots.
Samford has the same record but you rank them ahead of UT Arlington? Up until Florida (a game they lost) they haven’t played anybody….and yes, that includes Alabama (which they also lost). I don’t care if UT Arlington loses the next 5 in a row….they still shouldn’t be below them. And don’t get me started with Troy.
You remember what happened last time you said that right? That was just 2 weeks ago and that is the biggest reason they are not in right now. I actually explained why i left UT-Arlington out the other day on rivals. A CofC guy couldnt figure out why i dropped CofC and had Pepperdine and Dallas Baptist jump them thought i base everything on week to week results. While each week does impact movement the most when i look at several clubs entering the rankings i try to look at that teams last 2-3 weeks.(some instances not as much as others) Here is what i said to the CofC guy……………………
(“No its not but the previous week does determine who moves
up and who moves down that particular week as it does with every single
poll anyone does. UT-Arlington had a very good week beating Baylor and
winning 2 of 3 at Lamar. However they had lost 5 of 6 before this week
so need to see more.
If Albany goes to Coastal and sweeps them
this weekend they will not be in top 25. LOL I had narrowed it down
to Indiana St and Portland for the final spot. Portland might have had
the better week(winning at Washington and 2 of 3 vs Cal St Northridge)
you could say but Indiana St winning 16 of 17 games and beating Notre
Dame twice this week got them the nod. Along with an outside vote” posted on 3/19)
I could not get past them losing 5 of 6 the week before. The teams usually work them selves out. Right or wrong that is how i determine who is in and who is out.
On the subject of Troy. One week they look like they are a top 10 club then the next they dont look like at top 100 club. So they keep going up and down.
*sigh*
You’re killing me, smalls.
For the great Sandlot quote your boys are in!! LOL
Kent St lost again tonight and are just 8-10 and this is week #6 so below .500 will get them bumped…….WCU had bad loss tonight too at UNCA in 12 innings because of error w 2 outs……New Mexico St won at Arizona again tonight to sweep midweek series.
My boys got rained out. Heck, everything in north TX got rained out. Tough weekend coming up for us (at SE La)…and one of our weekend starters is out indefinitely because of a broken hand…which doesn’t bode well in addition to me shooting off my mouth as you well know.
Do i need to teach you about a thing called JINX!!!! You’ve done it again. 1 run in 7th, 2 in 8th and 1 in btm 9th and SE Louisiana pulls it out 8-7. OUCH.
What about Stetson’s ACE Schluter giving up 15 hits, 12 runs and 4 home runs in 3.1 innings to Belmont tonght. Belmont won 23-4 and has been playing very good lately.
YOU SHOULD METION AUSTIN PEAY STATE . THEY ARE 13-10 OVERALL AND 3-0 IN THE OVC . THE JUST SWEPT SOUTHEAST MIZZOU FOR THE 1ST TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY !!
The Governors were on the list unit they lost 7 of 10 but i will put them back on list and keep an eye on them. thanks
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