Baseball Ranked No.1 in Both Polls |
Clemson University
Notes
Clemson has a 5-1 overall record; all six games have been played at home. Tyler Colvin leads the club with a .450 batting average, four homers, and six RBIs, while the team is hitting .277. Clemson has totaled 16 doubles, one triple, and six homers while only allowing three doubles, one triple, and no home runs. Clemson also has nine sacrifice bunts, including three by Brad Chalk. Fielding has been a bright spot, as the team sports a .983 fielding percentage (four errors in six games).
The pitching staff has an 0.83 ERA and .183 opponents' batting average. It also has 51 strikeouts against 17 walks, good for a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Jason Berken is 2-0 in two starts and has allowed seven hits (all singles), no runs, and one walk with 12 strikeouts in 9.0 innings pitched. Berken, Clemson's Friday starter, missed all of 2005 while rehabbing after "Tommy John" surgery.
The Tigers entered the week ranked #1 in the nation by Baseball America. They will have a chance to stay atop that poll after taking two of three games from a solid Mercer club. The lone loss in the series was a 3-2 defeat, as all three Bear runs came in the eighth inning and were unearned. That same team defeated top-ranked Florida last week.
Taylor Harbin missed the entire Mercer series due to a strained hamstring and has missed the last five games after playing in the season-opener on February 17 against James Madison. His status will be re-evaluated later in the week.
Clemson won two of three games over upstart Mercer from February 24-26 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers hit .269 in the series, while Mercer hit .250. Clemson also outscored the Bears 16-8 and hit 10 doubles. The Tiger pitching staff had a 1.33 ERA and did not allow a home run. Mercer did not help Clemson with mistakes, as the team committed only one error all series, which came on an errant throw by a Mercer reliever on a pickoff play in game three.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Clemson University (5-1) has been ranked No. 1 for the first time this season in Collegiate Baseball newspaper’s poll of NCAA Division I baseball.
Florida (8-3), ranked No. 1 the previous three polls, slipped to seventh after dropping two games last week. The Gators lost 14-5 to Missouri and 4-0 to Wake Forest.
Clemson’s pitching staff has been superb through six games with a team ERA of 0.83. The staff has struck out 51 batters and walked only 17 batters for a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Poll Notes: Other red-hot teams this week include Georgia Tech. (10 straight wins), Arkansas (9 consecutive victories), Louisiana St. (8 wins in a row), North Carolina (7 straight wins), and Hawaii (7 wins in last 8 games). Four teams fell out of the poll this week. San Diego (7-6), a team which had swept a 3-game series against Texas several weeks ago, now has lost five straight games, including a trio against Georgia over the past weekend. Notre Dame started the season 2-2 with losses to Memphis and Oklahoma and barely fell out of the top 30. Missouri (5-4) started the weekend in high style by beating Florida 14-5. But the Tigers then lost a pair to Wake Forest and Ohio St. The final team to fall out of the top 30 was Southern Cal. (8-7) which dropped two of three at Hawaii.
The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Div. I Poll (As of Feb. 27, 2006) www.baseballnews.com Rank School (Record) Points Previous 1. Clemson (5-1) 492 2 2. Rice (10-2) 490 4 3. North Carolina (7-0) 487 5 4. Nebraska (5-2) 486 3 5. Georgia Tech. (10-0) 485 7 6. Florida St. (10-1) 482 6 7. Florida (8-3) 480 1 8. Louisiana St. (10-1) 477 15 9. Tennessee (7-2) 473 13 10. Stanford (9-4) 470 12 11. Texas (9-6) 468 11 12. Pepperdine (8-6) 466 9 13. Cal. St. Full (8-4) 464 14 14. Oregon St. (6-4) 463 10 15. South Carolina (8-1) 461 16 16. Long Beach St. (9-4) 460 17 17. N Carolina St. (12-1)459 18 18. Mississippi (6-1) 457 19 19. Arkansas (9-0) 455 24 20. Georgia (6-0) 453 — 21. Tulane (8-3) 452 21 22. Arizona St. (10-5) 450 30 23. Baylor (6-2) 449 20 24. Hawaii (11-3) 447 — 25. Oklahoma (9-3) 446 — 26. Winthrop (10-2) 445 26 27. Miami, Fla. (9-6) 443 27 28. Wichita St. (9-2) 441 29 29. Texas A&M (10-1) 439 — 30. Cal. Poly SLO (10-5) 436 25
DURHAM, N.C.—Clemson tops Baseball America's weekly college baseball rankings for the fourth straight week following a 5-1 start to its season.
Florida slipped three spots to No. 5 after dropping two of the three games at home in the Pepsi Baseball Classic. Missouri beat Florida in that tournament, but lost its other two games and fell to No. 20.
Stanford rejoined the Top 25 by finishing off its series win against Texas on Monday and finishing the week with a series win at Fresno State. The Cardinal are ranked 19th.
Winthrop made its debut in the 2006 rankings at No. 24. Series victories at Miami and at Alabama have led to a 10-2 start for the Eagles, who have won six straight games.
Mississippi State, South Carolina and Florida State moved into the Top 10 with perfect weeks.
The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of Feb. 19 and do not include ties.
Baseball America 1. Clemson 5-1 2-1 1 2. Georgia Tech 10-0 4-0 3 3. North Carolina 7-0 3-0 4 4. Rice 10-2 4-0 5 5. Florida 8-3 2-2 2 6. Tennessee 7-2 1-1 6 7. Cal State Fullerton 8-4 3-0 9 8. Mississippi State 3-0 3-0 11 9. South Carolina 8-1 3-0 13 10. Florida State 10-1 3-0 14 11. Arkansas 9-0 3-0 17 12. Pepperdine 8-6 2-2 16 13. Oregon State 6-3 3-1 8 14. Texas 9-6 4-1 7 15. Tulane 8-3 2-2 10 16. Long Beach State 9-4 3-0 18 17. Louisiana State 10-1 4-0 19 18. North Carolina State 12-1 4-0 20 19. Stanford 9-4 4-1 NR 20. Missouri 5-4 1-2 12 21. Texas Christian 6-4 2-1 21 22. Mississippi 6-1 4-1 23 23. Nebraska 5-2 2-1 25 24. Winthrop 9-2 3-0 NR 25. San Diego 7-6 0-4 15 Dropped Out: Cal Poly (22), Southern California (24).
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