By: Aaron Kirby
Other than the rain it was a very good opening weekend for most clubs in the rankings and especially teams outside of the rankings.
Good
- #1 Stetson (3-0) stayed on top sweeping George Washington at home this weekend.
- #2 TCU (1-1) split 2 games with Mississippi in their big opening weekend series. The Horned Frogs dropped Friday’s opener 7-4 and earned a split with a 5-3 win on Sunday. Saturday’s game was canceled due to rain.
- #3 Louisville (2-1) dropped Fridays opening to Minnesota 7-1 however the Cardinal moved up 2 spots beating Illinios and Michigan St in the Big East/Big 10 Challenge.
- #4 Georgia Southern (3-0) also moved up 2 spots taking care of UT-Martin in Statesboro. After hitting 30 HR’s last year GSU’s Victor Roache it did not take him long to get back in the swing of things with HR Saturday and another Sunday.
- College of Charleston (3-0) moved up 4 spots to #7 after sweeping South Alabama in Mobile. The Cougars allowed only 5 runs and 11 hits in 25.0 IP.
- Kent St (2-1) slides up one spot to #9 after splitting 2 games with Georgia Tech and picking up win vs host Winthrop in the Coca-Cola Classic in Rock Hill, SC. Kent St LHP David Starn had an impressive start to 2012 throwing 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K’s in Fridays opening night 5-0 win over Georgia Tech.
- One of the most impressive weekends in entire country was put in by Florida Atlantic (3-0). The unranked Owls shot up the rankings all the way to #12 by going into SEC country and sweeping Alabama. FAU took the season opener 5-2, Saturday 9-2 and finished off the sweep 9-4 on Sunday. Well done boys.
- Purdue (3-0) jump up 9 spots to #16 picking up wins over Cincy, UCONN and Notre Dame in the Big East/Big 10 Challenge in Florida.
- Pepperdine (2-1) enters the rankings at #21 after taking 2 of 3 from Oklahoma. The Waves dropped Fridays game 4-3 and evened the series with 10-0 win on Saturday. Sunday they earned the series win with a 7-6 travel curfew shorten win in 8 innings. Will someone please do something about that rule. Start earlier please but anyway very nice start to 2012 for the Waves.
Not So Good
- Two clubs who traveled west with a chance to pick up some nice W’s came away without any. Jacksonville (0-3) traveled to USC and dropped all 3 games falling 5 spots to #14. The Dolphins lost 8-2, 11-3, and 4-3 on Sunday…..Florida International (0-3) did not travel as far west but came up with same result at Rice and dropped to #20. The Golden Panthers lost 6-2 on Friday and 5-4 in 12 innings on Saturday before Rice finished them off 8-1 on Sunday.
- St Johns (1-2) drops 7 spots to #10 going 1-2 in Florida with win over Minnesota and loses to Michigan St and Illinois.
- UCONN (1-2) has started off slow again in 2012. The Huskies dropped 7 spots to #23 going 1-2 in the Big East/Big 10 Challenge in Florida. After beating Indiana on Friday they dropped games to Purdue and Ohio St.
- One team which usually does not start off slow is Coastal Carolina (1-2) who falls to #24. The Chants beat James Madison 7-1 on opening day then lost 9-3 and 8-3 to 2 ACC clubs Virginia and Boston College.
Not Good
- With FAU and Pepperdine kicking the door down into the top 25 that meant 2 clubs had to go. #20 Michigan St (1-2) started good with a 11-4 win over St Johns but then dropped games to South Florida and Louisville. Losing to South Florida and Louisville are not bad loses but when your down at #20 and other clubs have very impressive weekends MSU draws the short straw……..#23 Wichita St (0-3) had a rough trip to Texas. The Shockers lost 1-0 to Lousiana-Lafayette to start the season, 7-1 in 12 innings to Santa Clara, and 7-4 to host Texas St on Sunday.
Others Worth Noting
There were 5 or 6 other teams who deserved to be in rankings but there were no openings but they need to be mentioned.
- Santa Clara (3-0)-Picked to finish last in the West Coast Conference after going 17-34 overalll and just 4-17 in conference in 2011 the Broncos travel to Texas St’s tourney and beat Texas St 5-4 in 13 innings, Wichita St 7-1 in 12 innings and Lousiana-Lafayette 8-5 on Sunday.
- Gonzaga (3-0)- Swept Nebraska in Peoria, Arizona
- South Florida (3-0)-Beat Ohio St, Michigan St and Minnesota in Big East/Big 10 Challenge
- Liberty (4-0)-4 wins at Citadel tourney including scoring 7 runs in top of 9th inning on Sunday vs the Citadel to win 11-9.
- Toledo (2-1)-2 of 3 at Western Kentucky
- San Francisco (2-1)-won 2 of 3 at San Jose St
- Sam Houston St (2-1)-won 2 of 3 vs San Diego
- Bethune-Cookman (2-1)-B-C winning 2 of 3 at Florida Gulf Coast in Head Coach Jason Beverlin’s first series as head coach. That a boy Bev
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Mid-Major Top 25- Week 1 |
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RNK |
SCHOOL |
(REC) |
PVS |
(WK) |
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Weeks Results 2/17-2/19 |
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#1 |
Stetson |
(3-0) |
#1 |
(3-0) |
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3-0 George Washington |
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#2 |
TCU |
(1-1) |
#2 |
(1-1) |
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1-1 Ole Miss |
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#3 |
Louisville |
(2-1) |
#5 |
(2-1) |
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0-1 Minnesota; 1-0 Illinois; 1-0 Michigan St |
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#4 |
Georgia Southern |
(3-0) |
#6 |
(3-0) |
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3-0 UT-Martin |
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#5 |
Texas St |
(1-1) |
#4 |
(1-1) |
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0-1 Santa Clara; 1-0 Wichita St |
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#6 |
Dallas Baptist |
(3-0) |
#8 |
(3-0) |
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3-0 SE Missouri St; |
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#7 |
College of Charleston |
(3-0) |
#11 |
(3-0) |
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3-0 at South Alabama |
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#8 |
Troy |
(2-1) |
#7 |
(2-1) |
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2-1 Central Michigan; |
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#9 |
Kent St |
(2-1) |
#10 |
(2-1) |
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1-1 Georgia Tech; 1-0 Winthrop |
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#10 |
St Johns |
(1-2) |
#3 |
(1-2) |
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0-1 Michigan St; 1-0 Minnesota; 0-1 Illinois |
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#11 |
Charlotte |
(3-0) |
#12 |
(3-0) |
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3-0 St Peters; |
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#12 |
Florida Atlantic |
(3-0) |
NR |
(3-0) |
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3-0 at Alabama; |
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#13 |
Samford |
(2-1) |
#13 |
(2-1) |
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2-1 Radford; |
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#14 |
Jacksonville |
(0-3) |
#9 |
(0-3) |
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0-3 at USC; |
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#15 |
Fresno St |
(3-1) |
#19 |
(3-1) |
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3-1 Butler; |
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#16 |
Purdue |
(3-0) |
#25 |
(3-0) |
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1-0 Cincy; 1-0 UCONN;1-0 Notre Dame |
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#17 |
Stony Brook |
#17 |
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DNP |
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#18 |
Missouri St |
(2-2) |
#15 |
(2-2) |
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1-1 Tenn Tech; 1-1 at Texas Tech; |
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#19 |
Creighton |
(3-0) |
#21 |
(3-0) |
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3-0 at Central Arkansas; |
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#20 |
Florida International |
(0-3) |
#14 |
(0-3) |
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0-3 at Rice; |
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#21 |
Pepperdine |
(2-1) |
NR |
(2-1) |
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2-1 Oklahoma |
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#22 |
UNCW |
(2-1) |
#22 |
(2-1) |
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2-1 Ohio; |
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#23 |
Conneticut |
(1-2) |
#16 |
(1-2) |
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1-0 Indiana; 0-1 Purdue; 0-1 Ohio St |
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#24 |
Coastal Carolina |
(1-2) |
#18 |
(1-2) |
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1-0 James Madison; 0-1 Virginia; 0-1 Boston College |
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#25 |
Belmont |
(2-1) |
#24 |
(2-1) |
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1-0 Evansville; 0-1 Kansas; 1-0 St Louis |
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Dropped Out |
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#20 |
Michigan St |
(1-2) |
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#23 |
Wichita St |
(0-3) |
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Bubbles |
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Santa Clara |
(3-0) |
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South Florida |
(3-0) |
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Gonzaga |
(3-0) |
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Liberty |
(4-0) |
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Elon |
(3-0) |
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Sam Houston St |
(2-1) |
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Michigan St |
(1-2) |
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San Fransico |
(2-1) |
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SE Louisiana |
(3-0) |
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Bethune-Cookman |
(2-1) |
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