Tigers up 5 spots in Collegiate Baseball poll

by Press Release - Mon Mar 31 15:09:55 GMT-04:00 2014

TUCSON, Ariz. — South Carolina is ranked No. 1 for the fourth time in the last five weeks in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Division I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

Louisiana-Lafayette, ranked No. 1 last week, slipped to second after losing once to Western Kentucky. The Ragin’ Cauns have still won 16 of their last 17 games.

South Carolina (24-3) has won six straight and are tied for first in the Southeastern Conference with a 6-3 record. The Gamecocks swept a 3-game series at home against Tennessee over the past weekend, including two shutouts. South Carolina now has 11 on the season which is just three shy of the school record of 14 set in 1974. The pitching staff leads the SEC with a 1.75 ERA. The team has 23 errors in 27 games and is hitting .301 on the season.

Poll Notes: Several other teams have been red-hot. Washington has won 10 straight and 17 of its last 18 as the Huskies rank No. 1 in the Pac-12 with an 8-1 record. Over the past weekend, Washington swept a 3-game series at Southern California. Florida has won 13 of its last 16, including 4 straight with a trio of wins over Louisiana St. at home over the past weekend and a mid-week win over Florida St. Virginia has been outstanding with six straight wins while Cal. Poly has won five in a row.

Seven teams fell out of the top 30 this week in Tennessee (0-3 last week), North Carolina (0-4), Maryland (0-2), Virginia Commonwealth (0-1), N.C. State (1-3), Baylor (0-3)and Florida International (2-2). New to the top 30 this week is Florida, Miami, FL (won three straight at N.C. State), Alabama (swept three from Mississippi), Arizona St. (won 5 of last 6 and captured last two weekend series against Oregon St. and UCLA), Indiana (leading the Big Ten with a 5-1 record), Pepperdine (won 7 of last 8) and Oklahoma (won 2 of 3 at Kansas and leads the Big 12 with a 4-2 record).

In other key series over the past weekend, Vanderbilt won two of three at home against Kentucky, Oregon lost two of three at Stanford, Mississippi St. won two of three at home against Arkansas and North Carolina was swept three straight at Duke (the first time the Blue Devils have swept the Tar Heels since 1994).

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1959 college baseball season.

Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I Poll

(As of March 31, 2014)


 Rank	  Team (2014 Record)		Pts Pvs


    1.	  South Carolina (24-3)		493 2


    2.	  Louisiana-Lafayette (26-3)	492 1


    3.	  Virginia (23-4)		490 4


    4.	  Florida St. (22-5)		488 3


    5.	  Vanderbilt (23-6)		486 5


    6.	  Oregon St. (21-6)		483 8


    7.	  Cal. Poly (23-4)		481 9


    8.	  Louisville (21-6)		479 11


    9.	  Texas (22-7)			476 15


   10.	  Mississippi St. (20-10)	473 16


   11.	  Washington (20-5-1)		470 19


   12.	  Florida (19-9)		467 —


   13.	  U.C. Santa Barbara (19-5)	465 10


   14.	  Oregon (19-8)			462 7


   15.	  Alabama (19-8)		460 —


   16.	  Louisiana St. (20-8-1)	458 6


   17.	  Houston (22-5)		456 18


   18.	  Rice (21-9)			453 14


   19.	  Cal. St. Fullerton (14-10)	450 13


   20.	  Mississippi (21-8)		447 12


   21.	  Kentucky (19-9)		444 17


   22.	  Seton Hall (18-5)		442 22


   23.	  Clemson (17-9)		441 28


   24.	  Miami, Fla. (17-12)		438 —


   25.	  Arizona St. (15-11)		436 —


   26.	  UCLA (16-10)			434 23


   27.	  Auburn (19-10)		432 20


   28.	  Indiana (15-10)		428 —


   29.	  Pepperdine (20-7)		426 —


   30.	  Oklahoma (20-9)		424 —