1. Virginia
2. Texas
3. Georgia Tech
4. Louisville
5. Arizona State
6. Florida State
7. LSU
8. TCU
9. UCLA
10. Florida
11. Rice
12. Coastal Carolina
13. Clemson
14. Arkansas
15. UC Irvine
16. East Carolina
17. Miami
18. Oregon State
19. North Carolina
20. Ole Miss
21. Vanderbilt
22. Stanford
23. Cal State Fullerton
24. Oklahoma
25. Kansas
Next Tier
Texas A&M
Kentucky
Ohio State
Alabama
Southeastern Louisiana
Nice Work
Virginia definitively showed why it is #1 with a series win over Florida State in Tallahassee. The Cavaliers don't have elite pitching depth, but they have to be considered Omaha favorites at this point. OF Dan Grovatt and others continued to mash against the Seminoles.
Louisville continued to look like a CWS team by going on the road and taking a series from Ole Miss. The Cardinals are still without stars Andrew Clark and Josh Richmond, but are deep and talented enough to keep picking up Ws.
Kansas has been just outside the top 25 all season, and the Jayhawks finally entered after a huge series win at LSU. KU is missing stud 3B Tony Thompson and RHP Lee Ridenhour, but showed its grit with the win over the Tigers. OF Casey Lytle and RHP Brett Bochy (9 IP, 0 R, 19 K) are at the top of their games right now.
Several of the top players in the country are sophomores. Rice 3B Anthony Rendon (.362/.605/.787 with 6 HR and 27 BB) is there of course. Pitchers Taylor Jungmann, Danny Hultzen, Gerrit Cole, and Trevor Bauer showed this weekend again why they're so special. Jungmann (7.1 IP, 1 R, 17 K) dominated Iowa, Hultzen (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K) shut down Florida State's high-flying offense, and Cole (7.2, 2 R, 15 K) and Bauer (8 IP, 2 R, 15 K) were masterful for UCLA. It's no wonder the Bruins are undefeated with frontline pitching like that, but the UCLA's offense has been a terrific surprise as well. If players such as Tyler Rahmatulla and Cody Keefer keep it up, the Bruins have a real shot at getting to Omaha. (Arizona State, which passed its first test against Auburn this weekend, is the lone unbeaten team besides UCLA.)
#8 TCU is having a fantastic season, and the Horned Frogs will only be more dangerous if freshman phenom Matt Purke duplicates his success this weekend. The lanky lefty tossed a complete game, gave up 1 run on 4 hits and 0 walks, and struck out 8 against Texas Tech. Check out this YouTube video for a great look at Purke.
Needs Work
North Carolina lost its weekend series against Duke and dropped a mid-week game against William & Mary. RHPs Matt Harvey (5 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 BB, 3 K) and Patrick Johnson (3.2 IP, 6 R) were not effective against the Blue Devils. On the bright side, touted freshman outfielder Brian Goodwin (.377/.506/.705) is heating up at the plate and blossoming into a star for UNC.
East Carolina continued to struggle in games on the West Coast. The Pirates this week dropped a mid-week game to Cal State Northridge and a weekend series to Pepperdine. ECU needs Zach Woods or Brad Mincey to seize the #3 starter role, and the Pirate bats aren't quite clicking on all cylinders right now. East Carolina should be fine, but the 8-6 current record isn't that special.
South Florida has had a trying season thus far. The Bulls are 4-12 after losing 2 of 3 against Eastern Illinois this past weekend. I still expect USF to fight with Connecticut and others for 2nd place in the Big East, but so far the Bulls haven't quite been able to maximize their potential.
Florida is in terrific shape and ranked in the top 10, but it hasn't all been rosy for the Gators. RHP Tommy Toledo will be out for several weeks after breaking his nose. Freshman Austin Maddox is bashing the ball, but still hasn't drawn a walk this season. The Gators also have to be kicking themselves for losing to Charleston Southern on Sunday.
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