FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 17th year with its 2014 weekly surveys. Polls will be circulated from Feb. 17-June 26 following the 68th annual NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., at TD Ameritade Park.
Louisiana-Lafayette was ranked No. 1 for the first time ever in the NCBWA survey on May 26, holds down that same location this week and joins Virginia (eight weeks), Oregon State (four weeks – Feb. 17, May 5-12-19), Florida State (March 17), South Carolina (March 10), and Cal State Fullerton (preseason No. 1) as top of the pole sitters after 17 weeks of surveys in 2014. This tops last season’s five total teams at No. 1 during the entire January-June NCBWA compilations with six different top-ranked schools held that distinction. ULL also is the first Sun Belt Conference school ever to gain placement atop the rankings.
The poll voters come from 44 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation.
The four remaining top seeds in the NCAA Championships 16-team Super Regional bracket are NCBWA No. 1 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 2 Virginia, No. 4 Louisville, and No. 7 TCU after a host of upsets among the top eight NCAA seeds last week. Winners of each of the Super Regionals advance to the Great Eight in Omaha.
This week’s poll has representation by 12 different conferences among the 302 baseball-playing schools in the 2014 NCAA Division I ranks, and there have been 19 circuits and independents in the surveys this season. Last year there were 12 different DI loops in at least one set of rankings after a record 22 different leagues (from 30 in NCAA Division I) were rated among the Top 30 polls in 2012. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.
The Dick Howser Trophy committee and several NCBWA officers will hold a news conference on Saturday, June 14, at 10 a.m. (CDT) to announce the 2014 Dick Howser Trophy recipient as well as the 2014 NCBWA Coach of the Year and Stopper of the Year and to recognize 2013 NCBWA Wilbur Snypp Award winner J.D. Hamilton of the NCAA, The conference will take place in the TD Ameritrade Park media room and is followed by the opening game of the CWS at 2 p.m. (CDT).
Rank School Conference Overall Record Previous Rank
1 Louisiana-Lafayette Sun Belt 57-8 1
2 Virginia Atlantic Coast 47-13 3
3 Oklahoma State Big 12 48-16 7+
4 Louisville American Athletic 48-15 8
5 Houston American 48-16 9
6 Vanderbilt Southeastern 44-18 13
7 TCU Big 12 45-15 16
8 Ole Miss SEC 44-18 17
9 Texas Big 12 41-19 20
10 Texas Tech Big 12 43-19 23
11 Pepperdine West Coast 42-16 24
12 Oregon State Pac-12 45-14 2
13 LSU SEC 46-16-1 4
14 Cal Poly Big West 47-12 6
15 UC Irvine Big West 38-23 NR
16 College of Charleston Colonial 44-17 NR
17 Stanford Pac-12 34-24 NR
18 Florida State ACC 43-17 5
19 Indiana Big Ten 44-15 11
20 Maryland ACC 39-21 NR
21 Kennesaw State Atlantic Sun 40-22 NR
22 Miami (Fla.) ACC 44-19 14
23 South Carolina SEC 44-18 12
24 Florida SEC 40-23 10
25 Rice Conference USA 42-20 15
26 Washington Pac-12 41-17-1 18
27 Oregon Pac-12 44-20 19
28 Mississippi State SEC 39-24 22
29 Alabama SEC 37-24 29
30 Nebraska Big Ten 41-21 21
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Arkansas (40-25), Cal State Fullerton (34-24), Clemson (36-25), Columbia (29-18), Dallas Baptist (40-21), Long Beach State (34-26), Sacramento State (40-24), Sam Houston State (43-19), San Diego State (42-21), Texas A&M (36-26), UC Santa Barbara (34-17-1), UCF (36-23).
Dropped Out: Sam Houston State (25), Clemson (26), Arkansas (27), Dallas Baptist (28), San Diego State (30).
By conference: SEC 7, ACC 4, Big 12 4, Pac-12 4, American 2, Big Ten 2, BWC 2, ASC 1, CAA 1, C-USA 1, SBC 1, WCC 1.
