By: Aaron Kirby
Texas St (11-4) takes over the top spot.
The Bobcats, who had thrown 5 consecutive shutouts entering the week, picked up a 3-2 win vs Rice on Tuesday before taking 2 of 3 at UT-Arlington to start Southland play…….Stetson (12-3) who had held the top spot for the first 3 weeks dropped down to #2. The Hatters beat Maine 3-2 Tuesday and won 2 of 3 vs Harvard.
RISING
TCU (6-6) moved up one spot to #3 getting just 2 games in this week. The Horned Frogs beat Baylor mid-week and Texas Tech on Sunday. Fridays game vs Texas Tech was canceled and the two will play one more game on Monday.
Purdue (11-1) continues to role, moving up 2 spots to #4, winning all 3 games at Murray St.
College of Charleston (12-3) slides up 2 spots to #7 with a 5-0 week including wins vs Toledo, at Winthrop and sweep at Furman.
Pepperdine (11-4) moves up 5 spots to #9 after sweeping Rhode Island.
Samford (11-5) jumps up 5 spot to #10. The Bulldogs picked up wins vs Penn St and Jacksonville St during the week before traveling to Greensboro and winning 2 of 3 at UNCG to open SOCON play.
Appalachian St (13-2) has won 11 straight games including 4-0 this week climbing 6 spots to #13. The Mountaineers beat Duke 6-4 on Wednesday and swept Davidson over weekend. App needed extra innings Sunday to keep winning streak alive winning 5-4 in 10 innings. That streak will also be tested this week as they travel to Duke on Tuesday and South Carolina on Wednesday.
San Diego (12-4) also climbs 6 spots landing at #14. The Toreros traveled to Tennessee this week beating Lipscomb twice before taking 2 of 3 at Vanderbilt. San Diego is 11-2 since dropping the opening series at Sam Houston St with wins over Kansas St, Oregon St, UC Riverside, Cal Poly and two at Vanderbilt.
Liberty (16-2) continues to play very good baseball moving up 6 places to #16. The Flames won 10-6 at Old Dominion and 3 of 4 from St Johns. The 16 wins have them tied with Kentucky (16-0) for most in nation.
FALLING
Louisville (10-5) dip 3 spots to #6 with a 2-2 week. The Cardinals beat Indiana during week and lost 2 of 3 at The Alabama Baseball Tournament (7-3 vs Oral Roberts, 6-7 at Alabama, 4-9 vs ECU).
Troy (8-7) falls 6 spots to #11. The Trojans went 2-3 on the week to UAB Tuesday, beating ECU Wednesday and then lost 2 of 3 at home to Monmouth.
Gonzaga (10-3) slide 7 spots to #15. Gonzaga entered the week on a roll and undefeated. The Zags traveled to New Mexico, who went into weekend just 2-9, and got swept by the Lobos.
Florida Atlantic (10-7) moves down 4 spots to #17 going 2-3 on week including losing 2 of 3 to Rutgers.
Charlotte (9-7) tumbled 12 spots to #21. The 49ers did not pick up a win on the week going 0-4. Charlotte lost 5-1 at home to Holy Cross before traveling to Missouri and losing all 3 games.
OUT-(5)
#16 Georgia Southern (7-9) drop out of rankings with 1-3 week. The Eagles picked up a win at Charleston Southern Tuesday but got swept at Elon to open up SOCON play. With Sundays 7-6 loss in 11 innings the Eagles have now lost 8 of 10 games to fall out of rankings.
#18 Jacksonville (6-9) continues their rough start to 2012. The Dolphins went just 2-3 on week including losing 2 of 3 at home to Wagner.
#21 Creighton (7-6) drops out of rankings with a 2-3 week and finishing their West Coast trip at 4-6. The Blue Jays will play their first home game of 2012 this week after starting the season with 13 road games.
#24 SE Louisiana (11-5) had a rough week. The Lions drop out rankings with 2-3 week including opening Southland play losing 2 of 3 at Nicholls St.
#25 Hawaii (11-6) drops out after splitting 4 games with Central Michigan.
IN-(5)
Santa Clara (13-4) finally break into the rankings at #18 going 4-1 on week with wins over Cal Poly, Utah, Lehigh and Columbia. The team that was picked to finish last in the West Coast Conference would have been 5-0 on week if San Jose St did not score 2 runs in the btm of 9th on Sunday to take win away. Very impressive start to 2012 for the Fighting Steve Nash’s who ease into WCC play at San Diego this coming week.
Elon (10-5) join the rankings at #20. The Phoenix lost 3-0 to UNC on Wednesday but swept preseason SOCON favorite Georgia Southern over weekend. Elon has opened Southern Conference play 5-1 vs the 2 league favorites, taking 2 of 3 at CofC last week and sweeping GSU this week.
North Florida (11-4) comes in at #23 with a 4-0 week. The Ospreys won 19-1 at Florida A&M Tuesday and swept South Alabama over weekend. On Sunday redshirt freshman LF Garrick Ferguson hit a walk off grand slam in the 13th inning for a 7-3 win and complete the sweep of South Alabama.
Western Carolina (12-4) enter the rankings at #24 after a 4-1 week. The Catamounts beat Duke 12-4 on Tuesday and ETSU 7-3 Wednesday before taking 2 of 3 at The Citadel. For the week senior All-American 2B Ross Heffley hit .611(11-18) and his OB% was .750% (18-24). In the first 16 games he has 17 BB and 1 HBP with 0 Ks.
USC Upstate (12-1) enter the rankings at #25. The Spartans went 3-0 on week with wins vs Valparaiso, at Citadel, and at Charleston Southern. USC Upstate’s only loss of season is to 16-0 Kentucky.
Need to be mentioned
2 Northeast Conference schools traveled down south and picked up 2 impressive series wins. Monmouth (6-6) won 2 of 3 at Troy and Wagner (3-9) took 2 of 3 at Jacksonville.
| Mid-Major Top 25- Week 4 | ||||
| RNK | SCHOOL | (REC) | PVS | (WK) |
| Weeks Results 3/5-3/11 | ||||
| #1 | Texas St | (11-4) | #2 | (3-1) |
| 1-0 Rice; 2-1 at UT-Arlington; | ||||
| #2 | Stetson | (9-2) | #1 | (3-1) |
| 1-0 Maine; 2-1 Harvard; | ||||
| #3 | TCU | (6-6) | #4 | (2-0) |
| 1-0 Baylor; 1-0 Texas Tech; | ||||
| #4 | Purdue | (11-1) | #6 | (3-0) |
| 3-0 at Murray St; | ||||
| #5 | Missouri St | (12-4) | #7 | (3-1) |
| 1-0 Oklahoma St; 2-1 Southern Illinois-Edwardsville | ||||
| #6 | Louisville | (10-5) | #3 | (2-2) |
| 1-0 Indiana; 1-0 Oral Roberts; 0-1 at Alabama; 0-1 East Carolina | ||||
| #7 | College of Charleston | (12-3) | #9 | (5-0) |
| 1-0 Toledo; 1-0 at Winthrop; 3-0 at Furman; | ||||
| #8 | Dallas Baptist | (9-6) | #11 | (3-1) |
| 0-1 at Texas; 3-0 Houston Baptist; | ||||
| #9 | Pepperdine | (11-4) | #14 | (3-0) |
| 3-0 Rhode Island; | ||||
| #10 | Samford | (11-5) | #15 | (4-1) |
| 1-0 Penn St;1-0 Jacksonville St; 2-1 at UNCG; | ||||
| #11 | Troy | (8-7) | #5 | (2-3) |
| 0-1 UAB;1-0 East Carolina; 1-2 Monmouth; | ||||
| #12 | Kent St | (7-6) | #12 | (2-2) |
| 2-2 at New Mexico St | ||||
| #13 | Appalachian St | (13-2) | #19 | (4-0) |
| 1-0 Duke; 3-0 Davidson; | ||||
| #14 | San Diego | (12-4) | #20 | (4-1) |
| 2-0 at Lipscomb;; 2-1 at Vanderbilt; | ||||
| #15 | Gonzaga | (10-3) | #8 | (0-3) |
| 0-3 at New Mexico; | ||||
| #16 | Liberty | (16-2) | #22 | (4-1) |
| 1-0 at Old Diminion; 3-1 St Johns; | ||||
| #17 | Florida Atlantic | (10-5) | #13 | (2-3) |
| 0-1 at Florida; 1-0 Boston College; 1-2 Rutgers; | ||||
| #18 | Santa Clara | (13-4) | NR | (4-1) |
| 1-0 Cal Poly;1-0 Utah;1-0 Lehigh; 1-0 Columbia; 0-1 at San Jose St | ||||
| #19 | Stony Brook | (7-5) | #17 | (3-2) |
| 1-0 at Fairleigh Dickinson; 1-1 Kansas; 1-1 at Minnesota; | ||||
| #20 | Elon | (10-5) | NR | (3-1) |
| 0-1 North Carolina; 3-0 Georgia Southern | ||||
| #21 | FIU | (7-6) | #23 | (3-1) |
| 1-0 Boston College; 2-1 Fordham; | ||||
| #22 | Charlotte | (9-7) | #10 | (0-4) |
| 0-1 Holy Cross; 0-3 at Missouri; | ||||
| #23 | North Florida | (11-4) | NR | (4-0) |
| 1-0 at Florida A&M; 3-0 South Alabama | ||||
| #24 | Western Carolina | (12-4) | NR | (4-1) |
| 1-0 Duke; 1-0 ETSU; 2-1 at Citadel; | ||||
| #25 | SC-Upstate | (12-1) | NR | (3-0) |
| 1-0 Valparaiso; 1-0 at Citadel; 1-0 at Charleston Southern; | ||||
| dropped out | ||||
| #16 | Georgia Southern | (7-9) | ||
| #18 | Jacksonville | (6-9) | ||
| #21 | Creighton | (7-6) | ||
| #24 | SE Louisiana | (11-5) | ||
| #25 | Hawaii | (11-6) | ||
| BUBBLES | ||||
| Southern Illinois | (11-5) | |||
| SE Louisiana | (11-5) | |||
| Belmont | (9-7) | |||
| Hawaii | (11-6) | |||
| Sam Houston St | (9-6) | |||
| Coastal Carolina | (8-6) | |||
| Portland | (10-2) | |||
| Mercer | (12-5) | |||
| Wichita St | (10-7) | |||
| Louisiana Monroe | (11-6) | |||
