After the second (full) week of the college baseball season it is time for some good shaking up of the Top 25, when the polls are released tomorrow. Remember, this is the first week of “The 5: 25” that is not strictly averages of the main national polls.
Here is a glance at how the Top 25 and Pac-10 schools fared this past weekend.
Top-25 Action:
1. Arizona State (7-0) looks a little weaker this week, and by that all it means is they were actually held under ten runs for three straight games. The Sun Devils took two games against No. 10 Michigan at the Coca-Cola Classic in Tempe.
2. Arizona (5-1) swept Cal State Sacramento, in Tucson. The Wildcats should not slip too much in the polls, having not lost since game one.
3. North Carolina (7-1) bounced back from a weekday loss, to dominate the competition at the Coca-Cola Classic in Rock Hill, SC. The field included Winthrop, Kent State and St. John’s.
4. Mississippi (8-0) looked good all week up until Sunday’s game with Indiana State. Ole Miss won Sunday’s game coming from behind in 11 innings.
5. South Carolina (5-1) got things done against Clemson home and away, including a 5-1 win at Clemson, giving head coach Ray Tanner his 900th career win.
6. Texas (6-2) salvaged the weekend with a ten-inning 8-7 victory over Houston at the Houston College Classic, played at Minute Maid Park. The Longhorns dropped the first two games of the tournament to Tennessee and Rice.
7. Vanderbilt (5-2) slipped with a loss Saturday to Iowa, but things came back around with a 17-3 win over Xavier on Sunday.
8. Miami, Fla. (5-1) the Hurricane stumbled Sunday dropping game three of their series with Florida 6-2.
9. Rice (6-2) has rebounded from their two early losses to Long Beach State, with six straight wins including a 10-4 victory over No. 6 Texas.
10. Michigan (4-3), the Wolverines are most likely set to slip a little in the rankings with two losses to No. 1 Arizona State and an upset lost to the University of Portland. The Pilots knocked off Michigan in 10 innings a day after a 16-inning victory over Northern Illinois.
11. UCLA (5-1) swept the competition in the Urban Invitational. The final two games for the Bruins were not overly impressive however with a 2-0 win over Bethune-Cookman on ESPN2 and a one run win over Southern California.
12. Missouri (6-2) was for the most part successful in San Diego with going 3-1 with their only loss to No. 15 San Diego.
13. Long Beach State (5-2) despite dropping a weekday game to No. 15 San Diego the Dirtbags swept Wichita State.
14. Wichita State (3-3) the Shockers should drop some after being swept by Long Beach State.
15. San Diego (5-4) another team that may continue to slip in the rankings are the Toreros. Despite wins over Cal Poly, Fresno State and Missouri, USD was shutout Sunday by California 5-0.
16. Oregon State (3-3) was successful in a few ways this weekend in Portland at PGE Park as they pulled out a series win over the tough Georgia Bulldogs. Saturday starter and reigning CWS MOP Jorge Reyes was shelled as the Bulldogs put up seven in the first inning. The Beavers showed their strength in the bullpen minimizing damage and pulling out a victory Sunday in front of a record setting crowd.
17. Clemson (5-2) picked up back-to-back losses to South Carolina, after the Tigers beat the College of Charleston 7-6 on Friday.
18. Cal State Fullerton (3-4) is once again, another team set to take a fall after being swept in three games by Stanford in Palo Alto. The Cardinal put up 23 runs in the first two games of the series with the Titans.
19. Virginia (9-0) will likely benefit from teams slipping as they continued their success with two victories apiece over Cornell and Siena. The Cavaliers scored 48 runs in their four games in Charlottesville.
20. Florida State (7-0) just as the Cavaliers ahead of them, the Seminoles swept a four game home-and-home weekend series with Auburn.
21. Baylor (7-0) dominated Illinois on Friday putting up 20 runs, before being held to nine runs total in victories over Illinois-Chicago and Stephen F. Austin.
22. UC Irvine (7-0) shut out San Francisco in three straight games in Irvine.
23. Oklahoma State (6-1) finished 2-1 against Northwestern and South Florida in Tampa.
24. Kentucky (9-0) is set to climb as they dominated the Butler Bulldogs in a four-game series in which the Wildcats racked up 61 runs.
25. Louisville (4-2) wraps up the Top 25 with a 2-1 weekend at the Charleston Firefighter Memorial Challenge. In my upset pick of the weekend, The Citadel shut out the Cardinals 1-0 on Saturday.
Pac-10 Action:
California (5-1-1) was strong in San Diego with victories over Fresno State, San Diego State and host San Diego. The only loss for the Golden Bears was against Missouri.
Southern California (5-3) was victorious against the historically black schools, before dropping a non-conference game with UCLA.
Stanford (6-2) rocked Fullerton as they swept the Titans in Palo Alto.
Washington (4-4) continued to struggle with consistency this weekend. After a weekday loss to Lewis-Clark State, the Huskies won games one and two against Pacific, before dropping game three in Stockton, California.
Washington State (7-1) continued to cruise as the Cougars swept Wright State in Pullman. Wazzu put up double digits in games one and two with the Raiders.
The Five 25 should be up tomorrow afternoon pending the release of the other polls. Early thoughts however indicate that quite a few teams will be dropping in the poll. Virginia, Florida State, Baylor, UC Irvine and Kentucky all look to benefit from the other teams slipping in the rankings.
looks good Casey.