College Baseball Power Rankings: Two new top ten teams emerge

Jonathan Wagner

The Hard Count March 28, 2024

The past couple of weeks have been full of upsets across college baseball. We now have some notable changes in our updated college baseball power rankings as we prepare for another weekend bound to deliver more surprises.

Last weekend, 13 D1Baseball top 25 ranked teams lost their weekend series. That’s quite the number, as this season continues to be a rollercoaster for quite a few teams across the nation.

This weekend is sure to bring more excitement. The weekend is headlined by Virginia at Duke, LSU at Arkansas, South Carolina at Alabama, Mississippi State at Florida and North Carolina at Wake Forest, with plenty of other great series as well.

In our updated college baseball power rankings, two new teams join our top ten. Four teams also join the top 25, with one on the verge of the top 15.

1. Arkansas

Hagen Smith, Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher — (Steven Branscombe | USA TODAY Sports)

Record: 20-3 (5-1 in SEC)
Previous: No. 1
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 1

Arkansas is off to a great start in SEC play, winning both of their two weekends and dropping just Saturday’s series finale against Auburn. The Razorbacks are a clear-cut top two team in college baseball, and they will never be outmatched by any other pitching staff. This weekend presents an intriguing challenge against LSU.

2. Oregon State

Gavin Turley — © Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 21-2 (5-1 in Pac-12)
Previous: No. 2
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 2

Oregon State is the other clear-cut top two team in the country, and there might not be a lineup in the country that stacks up to theirs. Even if the Beavers have an off day on the mound, their offense is high-powered enough to make up for it. This weekend, Oregon State will face off against USC in their third conference weekend.

3. Clemson

clemson-baseball-wins-11th-straight-game-after-blake-wright-delivers-game-winning-heroics-vs-unc — (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Record: 22-2 (5-1 in ACC)
Previous: No. 5 (+2)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 3

Clemson has already racked up weekend series victories over South Carolina, Duke and Florida State this season. That’s quite the resume already. The Tigers swept the Seminoles this past weekend thanks to some late game, clutch offense. In doing so, they slowed down a red-hot team that was on the rise. They now get a similar opportunity in Coral Gables this weekend against Miami. The Tigers continue to move up in our college baseball power rankings.

4. Florida

Colby Shelton — © Cyndi Chambers Sports / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 14-10 (4-2 in SEC)
Previous: No. 6 (+2)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 6

Florida has some serious issues to get fixed on midweeks, there’s no getting around that. On Tuesday, they lost their tenth game of the season against Florida State in blowout fashion, falling 14-3. Despite those struggles, the Gators have won two SEC series against teams that were in the top five at the time in Texas A&M and LSU. Midweeks must be fixed, but if the Gators keep winning on SEC weekends, they won’t drop very far.

5. Texas A&M

Jace Laviolette-Texas A&M-baseball — Jace Laviolette (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Record: 22-3 (3-3 in SEC)
Previous: No. 7 (+2)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 4

After losing their opening SEC series against Florida, Texas A&M responded to win an impressive weekend against Mississippi State last weekend. It was a pretty tight series, but the Aggies prevailed against a strong Bulldogs team to earn their first SEC series win of the year. Next up is Auburn, who is looking to bounce back after a disappointing start. Texas A&M will look to keep winning after re-entering the top five in our college baseball power rankings.

6. LSU

Tommy White, LSU Tigers third baseman — LSU third baseman Tommy White poses after getting on base in a game on May 14, 2023. (Scott Clause / USA TODAY Sports)

Record: 20-6 (2-4 in SEC)
Previous: No. 4 (-2)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 8

LSU is looking to bounce back after losing its first two weekends of SEC play. The defending national champions have now dropped two out of three against Mississippi State and Florida, and the road isn’t getting any easier. LSU is in danger of dropping further in our college baseball power rankings, as they face off against Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Tennessee over the next three weekends.

7. Tennessee

Christian Moore — © Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 22-4 (3-3 in SEC)
Previous: No. 9 (+2)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 5

Tennessee bounced back nicely this past weekend after dropping their opening SEC series to Alabama. The Vols hosted a hot Ole Miss team and came away with two out of three. It was quite the weekend, as Tennessee’s wins (coming on Friday and Sunday), were both run-rules. Ole Miss was able to take Saturday 8-5, though the Vols still walked out of there with a series win.

8. Virginia

Jun 16, 2023; Omaha, NE, USA; Virginia Cavaliers shortstop Griff O’Ferrall (6) scores a run against the Florida Gators during the seventh inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Record: 21-4 (6-3 in ACC)
Previous: No. 11 (+3)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 9

The ACC is an interesting league right now, with quite a few teams vying for top ten spots. Virginia is right there. After losing their first ACC series to Miami, they won two against Wake Forest and then swept Pitt this past weekend. The next two weeks will say a lot for Virginia, as they battle Duke and North Carolina, two teams that are right around the top ten in our college baseball rankings.

9. Vanderbilt

RJ Austin — © Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 20-6 (3-3 in SEC)
Previous: No. 3 (-6)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 7

Vanderbilt was riding a long winning streak into this past weekend, but it ended in rather stunning fashion. South Carolina hosted the Commodores over the weekend, and the Gamecocks took all three games for the sweep. Now, Vanderbilt is looking to get back on track. They host Missouri this weekend before getting into a grueling month across the SEC.

10. North Carolina

Vance Honeycutt — David Jensen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Record: 22-4 (7-2 in ACC)
Previous: No. 17 (+7)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 14

UNC started ACC play off with a series sweep over Pitt and a series loss at Miami, and were looking to get back on track last week. That’s exactly what they did, with an impressive three-game sweep against Georgia Tech who was right on the cusp of joining our college baseball rankings. The next two weeks will say a lot about the Tar Heels, as they have Wake Forest and Virginia.

College Baseball Power Rankings: 11-25

Miguel Santos — © NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

11. Dallas Baptist (+5)
12. Duke (-2)
13. Wake Forest (+2)
14. UC Irvine (+4)
15. South Carolina (+10)
16. Virginia Tech (NR)
17. Alabama (-9)
18. East Carolina (-6)
19. Florida State (-6)
20. Coastal Carolina (-6)
21. Kentucky (NR)
22. Mississippi State (-2)
23. Oklahoma (-4)
24. Georgia (NR)
25. Nebraska (NR)

The four teams to join our college baseball power rankings this week are No. 16 Virginia Tech, No. 21 Kentucky, No. 24 Georgia and No. 25 Nebraska. They take the place of Campbell (previously No. 21), TCU (previously No. 22), Ole Miss (previously No. 23) and UC Santa Barbara (previously No. 24).

This week’s biggest riser was South Carolina, as the Gamecocks are up ten spots to No. 15. The biggest drop was Alabama, who fell out nine spots to No. 17.