By: Aaron Kirby
For the 3rd week in a row we have a new #1. TCU (29-11) is back at #1 after a impressive 4-0 week. The Horned Frogs picked a 4-2 mid week win over Texas A&M before sweeping a solid UNLV club in MWC play. However they learned this week that they will be without stud lefty Matt Purke for awhile with a shoulder injury.
Last weeks top spot belonged to Fresno St (29-6) who slides down 1 spot to #2. The Bulldogs did not have a bad week going3-2 with loss at Cal Poly and taking 3 out of 4 in their WAC series at Sacramento.
Stetson (31-9) stays at #3, picking up a very nice A-Sun series win on the road at Jacksonville. According to warrennolan.com The Hatters currently have RPI #18 which puts them in position to possibly host a regional……..Troy (30-10) heads back in the right direction moving up 3 spots to #4. Troy went 4-1 on week, losing to UAB on Tuesday and beating Alabama A&M on Wednesday. Then the Trojans took control of the Sunbelt with a sweep of Western Kentucky………Texas St (25-14) stayed at #5 with a 2-2 week. The Bobcats lost mid week to Texas Tech then went on the road and won 2 of 3 at Northwestern St.
Georgia Southern (24-16) jumps 7 spots into the top 10 at #6. The Eagles took 2 of 3 from Elon this weekend in Stateboro to move into 1st place in the SOCON. GSU OF Victor Roache hit his 19th HR of year on Saturday but Elon kept him in check most of weekend……Elon (26-16) drops 3 spot to #7 after going 2-3 on week. Before dropping the series at GSU, The Phoenix dropped a mid week game to High Point and before picking up a win vs Old Dominion………Florida International (25-16) climbed 7 spots to #12 with a sweep at Arkansas Little Rock in Sunbelt play.
Helping the other clubs move up so far were the bad weekend’s from a few clubs in the top 10 last week. Cal State Bakersfield (24-11) drops 4 spot to #11 after getting swept at home by UC Riverside for a 0-3 week……..FAU (24-16) also slides 4 spots to #13 with a 1-3 week. The Owls lost 12-0 at Central Florida on Tuesday before traveling to Arkansas St and losing 2 of 3………Coastal Carolina (26-15) falls 7 spots to #15 with a 2-3 week. Coastal lost 8-3 at UNC on Tuesday and picked up a win vs Citadel on Wednesday before dropping 2 of 3 at High Point in Big South play. Last year the Chanticleers did not lose a single game in the Big South but this year they have dropped a series at UNCA and High Point.
College of Charleston (27-15) moved up 1 spot to #17 with a 4-1 week. The Cougars lost to South Carolina on Tuesday and picked up win at USC-Upstate mid week before sweeping Furman in SOCON play. CofC was down 12-8 going to the btm 9th on Sunday and scored 5 runs to finish the sweep with last 2 runs coming home on Daniel Aldrich’s 2 out double………..San Jose St (26-15) moves up 2 spots to #18 winning 3 of 4 vs La Tech in WAC play………Stephen F. Austin (28-12) moves up 1 spot to #21 taking 2 of 3 at McNeese St. With SFA and Texas St both winning 2 of 3 they both remain tied at 15-6 atop the Southland(Texas St hold tie breaker though).
Creighton (27-10) did not break in their new home and the new home of the CWS, TD Ameritrade Park, the way they would have liked. Creighton went 1-3 in their new park this week dropping 7 spots to #22. The Blue Jays opened the park on Tuesday with a tough 2-1 loss to Nebraska before losing 2 of 3 to a (15-24) Southern Illinios club.
3 clubs fall out of the rankings. #23 Samford (24-17) drops out of the rankings after a 1-3 week which saw the Bulldogs lose to Alabama and drop 2 of 3 at home to UNCG in SOCON play……… #24 Sam Houston St (28-15) also falls out after a 1-3 week. The Bearkats lost at Texas Southern mid week before losing 2 of 3 at Nicholls St in SLC play………. #25 Gonzaga (22-13-1) drop out of the rankings after losing 2 of 3 at home to St Marys.
3 clubs enter the rankings. Preseason #2 UCONN (26-12-1) is back in at #20 and on another win streak. Last year the Huskies went on a 22 game win streak and right now they have won 9 in a row to get back in the top 25. UCONN picked up another Big East sweep this week over Georgetown and now sits in 1st place at 13-2 and 2 games up on Pitt(well actually 3 because UCONN owns tie breaker winning 2 of 3 earlier)………..Mercer (28-15) gets in at #23 with a 4-0 week. The Bears beat Georgia Tech 6-3 on Tuesday for their second win over the Yellow Jackets this year. The only other club to beat GT twice this year is Virginia. However even sweeping Lipsomb in Asun play they are in danger of not even making the Asun tourney currently in 8th place and 6 teams make Asun tourney. However they are only 1/2 game out of 6th and 1 game out of 3rd so not done yet…………The 3rd team to get in the week is Dallas Baptist (25-13) at #24. With an RPI of #114 and no confernce tourney to play in the Patriots will not see postseason play. However they continue to play very good baseball beating Oklahoma 3-2 on Tuesday and winning 2 of 3 from Seattle. On the year Dallas Bapist is 5-3 vs RPI top 50 clubs according to warrennolan.com lets hope they find a confernce to play in soon.
Post Season Notes-
Since we are 4 weeks from the end of the regular season lets look at the RPI’s for the Mid-Major clubs. Like it or not history has shown that in order for a team to have a really good chance to get in, they have to have a RPI 50 or lower with a few exceptions(mostly St Johns) over the years since the tourney expanded to 64 in 1999.
TCU #29, Fresno St #23, Stetson #18, Troy #32, Texas St #43, Georgia Southern #68, Elon #31, UNCC #97, SE Louisiana #45, Louisville #69, Cal State Bakersfield #53, FIU #37, FAU #46, Pitt #132, Coastal #57, Wichita St #106, CofC #58, San Jose St #83, Jacksonville #44, UCONN #63, SFA #110, Creighton #49, Mercer #61, Dallas Bapist #114, WKU #66.
***RPI’s as of Sunday Night from warrennolan.com
| “Mid-Major Major 25″ | 2011 WEEK #11 | ||||
| SCHOOL | (REC) | PVS | (WK) | WEEKS RESULTS-4/18-4/24 | |
| #1 | TCU | (29-11) | #2 | (4-0) | 1-0 at Texas A&M; 3-0 UNLV; |
| #2 | Fresno St | (29-6) | #1 | (4-1) | 0-1 at Cal Poly; 3-1 at Sacramento; |
| #3 | Stetson | (31-9) | #3 | (2-2) | 0-1 at S Florida; 2-1 at Jacksonville; |
| #4 | Troy | (30-10) | #6 | (4-1) | 0-1 UAB; 1-0 Ala A&M; 3-0 Western Kentucky; |
| #5 | Texas St | (25-14) | #5 | (2-2) | 0-1 Texas St 2-1 at Nrthwstrn St; |
| #6 | Georgia Southern | (24-16) | #13 | (2-1) | Elon; |
| #7 | Elon | (26-16) | #4 | (2-3) | 0-1 High Point; 1-0 Old Diminion; 1-2 at Georgia Southern; |
| #8 | Charlotte | (31-9) | #10 | (3-1) | 1-0 NCCU; 2-1 Fordham; |
| #9 | SE Louisiana | (26-15) | #12 | (2-2) | 0-1 at Tulane; 2-1 TAMU-CC; |
| #10 | Louisville | (22-17) | #11 | (2-2) | 0-1 Indiana; 2-1 S Florida; |
| #11 | Cal St Bakersfield | (24-11) | #7 | (0-3) | UC Riverside; |
| #12 | Florida International | (25-16) | #19 | (3-0) | at Arkansas Little Rock; |
| #13 | Florida Atlantic | (24-16) | #9 | (1-3) | 0-1 at UCF; 1-2 at Arkansas St; |
| #14 | Pittsburgh | (25-13) | #14 | (4-0) | 1-0 Youngstown; 3-0 Rutgers; |
| #15 | Coastal Carolina | (26-15) | #8 | (2-3) | 0-1 at UNC; 1-0 Citadel; 1-2 at High Point; |
| #16 | Wichita St | (25-18) | #17 | (2-2) | 0-1 at Oklahoma St; 2-1 Illinios St; |
| #17 | College of Charleston | (27-15) | #18 | (4-1) | 0-1 S Carolina; 1-0 at SC Upstate; 3-0 Furman; |
| #18 | San Jose St | (26-15) | #20 | (3-1) | La Tech; |
| #19 | Jacksonsville | (24-15) | #16 | (1-2) | Stetson; |
| #20 | UCONN | (26-12-1) | NR | (5-0) | 1-0 at UMASS; 1-0 Fairfield; 3-0 Georgetown; |
| #21 | Stephen F Austin | (28-12) | #22 | (2-1) | at McNeese St; |
| #22 | Creighton | (27-10) | #15 | (1-3) | 0-1 Nebraska; 1-2 S. Illinios; |
| #23 | Mercer | (28-15) | NR | (4-0) | 1-0 Georgia Tech; 3-0 Lipscomb; |
| #24 | Dallas Baptist | (25-13) | NR | (3-1) | 1-0 at Oklahoma; 2-1 Seattle; |
| #25 | Western Kentucky | (25-16) | #21 | (1-3) | 1-0 Kentucky; 0-3 at Troy; |
| DROPPED OUT | |||||
| #23 | Samford | (24-17) | (1-3) | 0-1 Alabama; 1-2 UNC-Greensboro; | |
| #24 | Sam Houston St | (28-15) | (1-3) | 0-1 at Texas So; 1-2 at Nicholls St; | |
| #25 | Gonzaga | (22-13-1) | (1-2) | St Mary’s; | |
| BUBBLES | |||||
| Kent St | (26-12) | ||||
| Stony Brook | (26-9) | ||||
| St Johns | (21-13) | ||||
| Gonzaga | (22-13-1) | ||||
| Rhode Island | (23-16) | ||||
| *bubbles in no particular order |
