Poll Position: Ole Miss baseball continues small climb up the rankings after taking Maryland series
The college baseball season is still early, only two weeks into it, and still plenty of games to be played but Ole Miss took care of business for a second weekend in a row and keeps its standing in the polls.
After sweeping Delaware it was hard to make the case Ole Miss should make a noticeable leap up the rankings of the many different college baseball polls. Though after a 3-1 week, including taking the series against then-ranked No. 13 Maryland it would be fair to expect some movement for the Rebels.
In the polls that have been released on Monday that does not seem to be the case for Ole Miss, who stays steady in D1Baseball and Perfect Game’s polls and makes a small upward movement in Baseball America’s Top 25.
The Rebels dropped Friday’s series opener to the Terrapins by a score of 9-2 but then proceeded to outscore them 30-14 the final two games of the series, including a run-rule victory on Sunday.
Last Tuesday provided the first midweek game of the season for Ole Miss (6-1) who defeated Arkansas State 11-3.
Ole Miss moved up a spot to No. 8 in Baseball America’s latest rankings, creeping closer to another Top-5 position.
LSU remains No. 1 in all three polls after a 3-1 week, which included its first loss of the season over the weekend. Behind the Tigers in Baseball America’s poll is Florida, Stanford, Louisville and Vanderbilt, keeping last week’s Top 5 in the same order.
Tennessee remained at No. 6 followed behind Wake Forest that bumped up a spot to No. 7 in front of Ole Miss.
Movement just outside of the Top 5 in all the polls is due to Texas A&M have a 1-3 week that included dropping its weekend series to Portland and avoided the upset sweep with a walk-off win on Sunday. The Aggies fell 12 spots in Baseball America’s poll to No. 22.
In the D1Baseball rankings Ole Miss stays at No. 4 as the Top 5 nearly remains the same from last week’s poll. The only change is the Aggies falling out and the Demon Deacons coming in at No. 5 this week.
The Tigers are No. 1 followed by Stanford and Tennessee, the Rebels and Deacons.
Just like D1Baseball’s poll the Top 5 remains unchanged in Perfect Game’s as Ole Miss stays just outside of it at No. 6, where it was last week. LSU, Stanford, Arkansas, Wake Forest and Tennessee comprise its Top 5 teams.
Ole Miss gets a chance to make more noise and earn some more Power 5 wins this weekend as it takes on Maryland once more along with Nebraska and host team Minnesota in the Cambria College Classic at USBank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Prior to that the Rebels host Louisiana Tech (4-3) for a pair of midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday, capping the opening nine-game homestand. Both games are set for 4 p.m. CT start times.
Below is D1Baseball’s full Top 25 for this week:
- LSU (6-1)
- Stanford (5-2)
- Tennessee (6-2)
- Ole Miss (6-1)
- Wake Forest (9-0)
- Florida (7-1)
- Vanderbilt (5-3)
- Arkansas (5-2)
- East Carolina (5-1)
- TCU (4-3)
- Virginia Tech (5-2)
- Oklahoma State (4-3)
- North Carolina (4-3)
- Louisville (6-1)
- Texas A&M (4-3)
- Florida State (6-1)
- UCLA (5-2)
- Maryland (3-4)
- Virginia (7-0)
- Alabama (8-0)
- North Carolina State (7-0)
- Miami (7-1)
- South Carolina (8-0)
- Texas Tech (8-0)
- Southern Mississippi (5-2)
