Ranking 4/3/2023

[fryeguy93]

Starting the thread a bit early as the spreadsheet will be updated through the day.

East Carolina really @#$%!#$ the bed this week. Thee were consensus top-10 in every poll last week and even #10 in RPI.
They played three close games in Houston and lost two of them and lost a midweek game to visiting UNC-Wilmington - who are hardly world beaters
They fell 20 spots in the RPI to #30 and it will be interesting to see where the polls/rankings have them this week- at least the ones that pay attention.
It's early but they may have already blown a chance at a national seed. They have two games to go (home and away) against NC State. Those are really there last games against top tier teams.

Wake Forest is on a freaking rolling. They may be more balanced pitching wise than LSU, who clearly is searching for a #3 starter
Vanderbilt is a rare team that got significantly better after conference play starts. Albeit against three weaker SEC teams. They have a real chance at UT's record from last season for best SEC start as they go to Missouri this weekend
UCLA has lost 5 straight games and should plummet even further than last week. Their RPI is still high at #10
BC is the surprise team in the US. Winning two against visiting GaTech as they finally got to play at home.
Kentucky's soft early season continues at dreadful UGA. I suspect Georgia may surprise and come off the mat this Easter weekend.,
Coastal Carolina went 4-0- all on road. They will move up big this week.
I'm not sure why Texas is still ranked
Texas did their boring 2-2 week.
Miami came off the mat and went 4-0
West Virginia had a decent week aginst subpar competiion.
Iowa was somewhat exposed by last year's darling Maryland losing 2 of 3 at home.

 

[NorCalVol67]

Dropped a spot to 11 in D1, a little surprised by that.

KY and BC entered the top 10.

 

[fryeguy93]

D1 and BA out.
Not sure how USC goes 2-2 on week with midweek loss to UC-Irvine and 2-1 against lowly Utah, and jumps into poll.
Also surprised that ECU has not dropped as far as expected.
The SEC is obviously very top loaded. The intra-league play is knocking those in the bottom half of polls out of the polls
Not sure any SEC team that is not ranked now will be be able to get ranked later.

 

[fryeguy93]

On the Collegiate Baseball poll we fell 1 spot there.

That poll is just crazy,

Think about this, Texas also went 2-2 last week and lost series at # 12 Ok. State. and jumped 2 spots in their poll. Tennessee went 1-2 at #1 LSU and fell 1?
Texas has more losses
Texas has looked completely mediocre
Louisville has had a crap 2 weeks and only fell 1 spot
Boston College is still only 19?

 

[fryeguy93]

Perfect Game:

Boston College gets more love from PG as they are up 5 spots
Texas is not even ranked

PG is also the first to rank Northeastern who has a very solid resume. They beat BC a few weeks ago midweek- They've won 10 straight and 12 of 13
NE lost series at Elon who is going to win that conference, and NE is in 3rd place and the only team that's ranked
Who remembers Northeastern playing in Knoxville regional against UT? Tom Glavine's brother played for that team then. I believe he played 1st base and was their best htter. I think that was 1994?

 

[bigeasy]

Dang, we have a rough stretch of 4 SEC series. All 4 of those teams are in the current Top 5 in the nation.

 

[Ritzwatch]

Perfect Game:

Boston College gets more love from PG as they are up 5 spots
Texas is not even ranked

PG is also the first to rank Northeastern who has a very solid resume. They beat BC a few weeks ago midweek- They've won 10 straight and 12 of 13
NE lost series at Elon who is going to win that conference, and NE is in 3rd place and the only team that's ranked
Who remembers Northeastern playing in Knoxville regional against UT? Tom Glavine's brother played for that team then. I believe he played 1st base and was their best htter. I think that was 1994?

Yep, 1994. Went on to lose to Arizona State in extra innings after Helton hit a GS late to tie the game. Helton threw like 48/49 scoreless innings in a row that year, but I *think* I remember he game up the game winning hit in relief to some guy swinging a bright white ball bay. At least, that’s my memory when the nightmares return.

ASUs coach died soon after the CWS from cancer. And all the cancer survivors say, #FCancer.

 

[fryeguy93]

How past opponents are doing:

Arizona is a mediocre 14-12 (3-9) and was embarrassed at home by Ducks over weekend (0-3). Swept in 3 straight weekends. (#60)
Grand Canyon is 17-10 (8-4) they were Arizona's last win in midweek last week. Took series 2-1 at Utah Valley. (#82)
UCSD is 17-8 (8-2) and was on a huge roll until losing series 2-1 at Irvine. The won 12 straying before that (#98)
AL A&M has recovered a bit before losing last 6 in SWAC to FAMU and AL State. They sit at 10-1 (2-7) and were beaten badly in those 6 (#260)
Dayton is 7-19 (2-1) they won opening conference series against GW but they are bad (#245)
Charleston Southern is the best 12-16 (4-5) team in America. Kudos to their brutal schedule. They were brutalized at Campbell over weekend. (#92)
Gonzaga is 11-14 (7-2) is a good team that got off to a very bad start. they are doing far better now that conference has started. They beat BYU 2-1 over weekend and have won every WCC series so far and are tied at 1st. (#130)
Boston College is now known quantity at 20-6 (8-4) and have a somewhat favorable ACC schedule EXCEPT a visit to Wake. (#7)
Morehead State is 15-12 (5-1) and sit in first place in OVC. (#142)
Lipscomb is 11-16 (6-3) Won a very visible series against Liberty over weekend and have won first 3 A-Sun series. (#164)
Missouri is 19-9 (3-6) and obviously sold their souls to Satan to be Tennessee. Their RPI is still high (#22)
Western Carolina is 12-15 (3-3) and upset homestanding Mercer over weekend. Catamounts have yet to play a home SoCon series (#176)
Texas A&M exited from the highway to hell at 17-11 (3-6) by hosting Ole Miss over weekend
UNC Asheville is 17-10 (4-5) came off the mat and beat Presbyterian 2-1 over weekend (#179)


Tennessee's schedule is far better RPI wise than the 2022 schedule

 

[fryeguy93]

ASUs coach died soon after the CWS from cancer. And all the cancer survivors say, #FCancer.

Coach was a saint.
The team was a stark raving bunch of assholes

 

[Ritzwatch]

Coach was a saint.
The team was a stark raving bunch of assholes

Yes. I couldn’t stand them. Sat over their dugout with a soda can full of rocks and pounded on top of it all game long. Wish I could do it again.

 

[TheBigOne10]

Collegiate Baseball poll has been on serious crack.

 

[fryeguy93]

USA Today Coaches Poll

First poll to move Tennessee up this week. Since when did other coaches like Vitello?
They dropped ECU 6 spots but only dropped Louisville 1
UCLA was dropped 10 spots

I keep thinking that Vanderbilt and Kentucky have been feasting on the SEC bottom feeders the first 3 weeks. I believe Vanderbilt is largely for real and Kentucky still has the same lackluster talent they had last season.

 

[fryeguy93]

Collegiate Baseball poll has been on serious crack.

I believe that poll just tries to be cute. They try to add midmajor schools that no one thinks much of. They're the only service that ranks Fullerton and they have them at 21? A Titans team that lost a series to Michigan? Ball State is completely random. They are the only one to rank Arizona State (#16) have Texas WAY too high. BC WAY to low. Coastal WAY too local

 

[I4Vols]

Just play ball

 

[Aerie Vol]

Skeptical Me: They seriously just look at the records, don't they?

Paranoid Me: They really are out to get us, the bad boys of college baseball, ain't they?

Benefit of the Doubt Me: They probably have noticed our starters and fielding are weaker than expected and have adjusted accordingly, right?

VFL Me: Whatevs. Vawls agin all y'all! Check our ranking after Omaha. Rocky Top! Deuces.

 

[fryeguy93]

Odd that the baseball writers' poll was not release yesterday.

 

[Volprofch05]

Odd that the baseball writers' poll was not release yesterday.

Need to institute a poll clock, speed things up a bit

 

[nashvillepanther]

Vandy isn't for real until their hitters hit elite SEC pitching. Until then, they aren't for real. I've seen this song and dance routine from Corbin for years.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Need to institute a poll clock, speed things up a bit

At the 8 second mark, voters have to lay down their pencils and look upwards.

 

[fryeguy93]

Vandy isn't for real until their hitters hit elite SEC pitching. Until then, they aren't for real. I've seen this song and dance routine from Corbin for years.

I would agree with you but they are REALLY hitting at least lower level SEC hitting right now.

They likely will take a step back somewhat but they are seeing the ball well right now and hitting is contagious.

Kentucky is not quite hitting as well but still run ruled Missouri.

We see them both in Knoxville and they'll have to prove it against the best STAFF in the league.

 

[fryeguy93]

Not sure when but the baseball writers poll is on their website.

Did not see it until today.

I have filled in. They moved Tennessee up 2 spots from last week

Using the D1 poll, the midweek action has been interesting with seven teams losing with only one (NC) losing to a ranked team

on Tuesday 4/4/2023 highlights include
#2 Wake Forest lost at Elon 3-5 (Elon is fors reals)
#6 South Carolina beat #13 North Carolina 0-5
#9 Boston College struggled against UMass but won 13-12 in pitchers' dual
#12 East Carolina beat NC State 9-13
#14 Campbell lost at Duke 6-15
#15 FGCU lost at FAU 4-8
#16 Oklahoma State lost to visiting Wichita St 13-6
#17 Coastal Carolina lost at Clemson 6-16
#18 Louisville lost Lipscomb 12-7
#19 Connecticut lost at Columbia 14-19
#23 UCLA beat Long Beach 4-3 in 13 innings

The only ranked team playing on Wednesday 4/5/2023

#24 West Virginia beat Marshall 15-9


20 ranked teams start their series tonight with 11 of them playing on the road
There are 3 matchups of ranked teams with the lower ranked team hosting them all,.
There could be a huge shake up on the polls next Monday.


#1 LSU @ #6 South Carolina
#3 Florida @ #11 Tennessee
#4 Vanderbilt @ Missouri
#5 Arkansas@ Mississippi
#8 Stanford @ California
#9 Boston College @ #18 Louisville
UCF @ #12 East Carolina DH
#13 North Carolina @ Georgia Tech
#14 Campbell @ Presbyterian
#15 FGCU @ Queens
#16 Oklahoma State @ TCU
Georgia Southern @ #17 Coastal Carolina
#19 Connecticut @ St. John's
Kansas State @ #21 Texas
North Dakota State @ #22 Texas Tech
Utah @ #23 UCLA
Oregon State @ #25 Oregon


Series starting Friday 4/7
#2 Wake Forest starts their home series against NC State
#7 Virginia and #20 Miami in Charlottesville
#10 Kentucky starts at Georgia
#24 West Virginia hosts Kentucky

 

[vol_in_ga]

We need to be unranked come next week. We’ve done nothing this season to merit such a ranking as we have. The team needs a wake up call and a fire lit under them.