2013 CBD Mid-Major Poll (Feb. 11th)

– February 11, 2013Posted in: 2013 Polls

By: Aaron Kirby
2012 was a great year for Mid-Majors in college baseball. 2 of the biggest stories in all of college baseball of course were Kent St (47-20) winning a Super Regional at Oregon and Stony Brook (52-15) winning a Super Regional at LSU to gain berths in the College World Series. We also had Purdue (44-14) who won their first Big 10 regular-season title since 1909.

For 2013 we are going to stick to the definition of a college baseball “Mid-Major” as:

Any team not in the traditional Big 6 conferences (ACC, Big West, Big 12, CUSA, Pac 12 and SEC)

Top 3

The Louisville Cardinals (41-22) enter 2013 in the top spot. They return 7 of 8 position player starters which include all 5 starters who hit over .300 in 2012. One the mound the Cardinals return 2 of 3 weekend starters (RHP Jared Ruxer 8-3, 3.38 ERA, 14 GS, 77.1 IP and RHP Jeff Thompson 9-4, 4.00 ERA, 15 GS, 78.2 IP, 73 K).

San Diego Toreros (40-17) come in at #2 returning 6 of 8 position players and 1 of 3 weekend starters. The Toreros have no shortage of star power in All-American 3B Kris Bryant (.366, 78 H, 17 2B, 14 HR, 57 RBI), All-American closer RHP Michael Wagner (5-2, 2.58 ERA, 19 SV, 59.1 IP, 53 K) who moves to the rotation joining former 1^st round pick RHP Dylan Covey (6-3, 3.32 ERA, 16 GS, 81.1 IP).

Missouri State (40-22) is at #3 returning 5 of 9 position players and 36 of the 40 wins on the mound from 2012. Leading the pitching staff is All-American R-Jr RHP Nick Petree (10-4, 1.01ERA, 16 GS, 115.1 IP, 114 K) along with Sr RHP Cody Schumacher (8-1, 3.71ERA, 17 GS, 99.1 IP, 96 K) and So LHP Tyler Burgess(5-2, 2.08 ERA, 11 SV, 39.0 IP, 31 K).

Few clubs outside of the top 10 that could make a run in 2013

#11 Kent State (47-20) lost a good bit from their CWS team last year but returns enough for another run. The Golden Flashes return 6 of 9 position player starters including leading hitter from 2012 Sr 1B George Roberts (.364, 96 H, 23 2B, 8 HR, 66 RBI). On the mound the Flashes lost 2 of 3 weekend starters. But the one returning starter is a stud in Jr RHP Tyler Skulina (11-3, 3.77, 18 GS, 107.1 IP, 106 K) and return 13 wins and 16 saves from the bullpen.

Two Southern Conference teams, #13 Elon (33-26) and #14 Western Carolina (32-24), have the returning players to make a run. The Phoenix return all 4 starters and 32 of 33 wins from last year pitching staff. 2 of those starters Sr LHP Dylan Clark (9-4, 3.76, 88.2 IP) and Jr RHP David Whitehead (5-3, 4.44, 77.0 IP) were all stars in the Cape this summer. The Catamounts also return all 4 starters, 30 of 32 wins, and preseason All-American closer Sr RHP Preston Hatcher (6-2, 1.73, 10 SV, 52.0 IP, 55 K) on the mound and 8 of 9 position starters from team that led the SoCon in hitting in 2012.

#15-St Louis (41-18) return 7 of 9 position players and 4 starting pitchers including Sr RHP Alex Alemann (7-2, 2.84 ERA, 15 GS, 98.1 IP) and Jr RHP Clay Smith (7-2, 2.62 ERA, 15 GS, 96.0 IP)

#24 Gonzaga (34-22) with one of best 2 way players in country in Jr LHP/1B Marco Gonzales (8-2, 1.55 ERA, 12 GS, 92.2 IP, 90 K and .325, 10 2B, 2 HR, 29 RBI) and is joined in rotation by Sr LHP Tyler Olson (5-4, 2.77 ERA, 15 GS, 110.1 IP, 92 K)

#25 Mercer (38-21) all 8 position player regulars including Jr DH Nick Backlund (.381, 85 H, 16 2B, 16 HR, 58 RBI) and 3 of 4 starters on the mound.

Mid-Major Top 25- Preseason
Rnk	School	2012 Rec	2012 Postseason
Opening Weekend Opponent
#1	Louisville	41-22	2nd Arizona Regional
vs Indiana; vs South Florida; vs Purdue
#2	San Diego	40-17	4th UCLA Regional
San Diego St; San Diego St; San Diego St
#3	Missouri State	40-22	3rd Miami Regional
at Texas St; vs Sam Houston State; vs Tulane
#4	New Mexico	37-24	3rd UCLA Regional
Oklahoma St; Oklahoma St; Oklahoma St
#5	Coastal Carolina	42-19	3rd SC Regional
vs James Madison; James Madison; James Madison
#6	Dallas Baptist	41-19	2nd Baylor Regional
Creighton; Creighton; Creighton
#7	Wichita State	35-25	none
Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh
#8	Sam Houston State	40-22	2nd Arkansas Regional
vs Tulane; vs Missouri State; at Texas St
#9	Florida Atlantic	31-22	none
Cincinnati; Cinncinati; Cincinnati
#10	Fresno State	31-28	3rd Stanford Regional
UC Santa Barbara; UC Santa Barbara
#11	Kent State	47-20	College World Series
vs Viginia Tech; at UNCW; vs Virginia Tech; at UNCW
#12	Pepperdine	36-23	2nd Stanford Regional
Western Michigan; W. Michigan; W. Michigan; W. Michigan
#13	Elon	33-26	none
Marist; Boston College; VCU
#14	Western Carolina	32-24	none
Washington St; Washington St; Washington St
#15	St Louis	41-18	none
at Oral Roberts; at Oral Roberts; at Oral Roberts
#16	SE Louisiana	39-21	none
Tennessee Martin; UT Martin; UT Martin
#17	UNCW	39-23	3rd NC State Regional
Kent State; Virginia Tech; Kent State; Virginia Tech
#18	Nebraska	34-23	none
at Cal St Bakersfield; at Cal St Fullerton; at Cal St Fullerton; at USC
#19	College of Charleston	38-22	3rd Florida Regional
Xavier; Xavier; Xavier
#20	Stony Brook	52-15	College World Series
at Florida International; at FIU; at FIU
#21	Notre Dame	31-27	none
vs Ohio State; vs FGCU; vs Mercer
#22	Austin Peay State	40-24	2nd Oregon Regional
Iowa; Iowa; Iowa
#23	Indiana	32-28	none
vs Louisville; vs Connecticut; vs South Florida
#24	Gonzaga	34-22	none
vs Utah Valley; vs UC Riverside; vs Oregon State; vs Utah Valley
#25	Mercer	38-21	none
vs Ohio State; vs St Johns; vs Notre Dame

Others Receiving votes
	Texas State
	Florida Gulf Coast
	Liberty
	St Johns
	Belmont
	New Mexico State
	Troy
	Florida International
	Samford
	Loyola Marymount
	Kennesaw State
	Indiana State
	Oral Roberts
	Cambell
	Purdue
	Seton Hall
	Delware State
	San Diego State
	Nevada
	Michigan State
	Bethune Cookman
	South Florida

Tags: 2013 CBD Mid-Major Poll, 2013 Polls

About Brian Foley

Brian Foley is the founder and Lead Editor of College Baseball Daily since its inception in 2005. He has covered two CWS, multiple NCAA Baseball Regionals, and other special events across the country. In addition to his duties with College Baseball Daily, he has covered games for Inside Lacrosse and been featured in USA Today, Wall Street Journal among other publications. He can be contacted by email at editor at collegebaseballdaily.com and followed on Twitter @BFoley82.

fred4945

First, this poll is a good idea. Nobody else is doing, so it’s good for baseball that CBD found and filled this niche.

Second, there is no “Big 6″. There is, at most a “Big 5″. Conference USA has no business being mentioned with the ACC, Pac 12, SEC, Big 12. The Big West is the outsider looking in among those 5 and Conference USA can’t begin to compare to a conference which contains Fullerton, Long Beach and Irvine. Conference USA has one great program: Rice (which has been down of late). Include Conference USA in your mid-majors

Third, take care not to rank programs simply because they once where good or because they have a big name. Notre Dame was barely above .500 playing weak competition. Wichita State hasn’t been nationally competitive for almost 15 years now. Louisville isn’t the best team; Rice would be if you properly include Conference USA. And Sam Houston will finish among your top 10.

Fourth, I think Florida International & Liberty will surprise this year.

Good, thought-provoking idea.
- http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
  
  Tulane appeared in the CWS in 2001 and 2005 while Southern Miss appeared in 2009.
  
  Back to your point..Louisville will argue with me that they aren’t even a mid-major but based on this poll, they are considered mid-major and easily the most talented team. Not even close!
  - fred4945
    
    They why don’t you rank Tulane and Southern Miss, Brian? My point is that you RANK has-been programs like Wichita State and big-name schools which are not competitive in baseball like ND. I’m not saying you should not consider those programs — just that you should not rank them in a pre-season poll.
    
    As to Amk32′s contention that, 4-5 years ago, there were a “big 6″ that dominated D-I….. Man, what have you been smoking? Four years ago, in 2009, 6 of the 8 CWS teams were in the Big 4 conferences. The 7th was Big West. The same was true in 2008 And on and on and on. Four conferences dominate D-I baseball. Plain and simple. Unarguable.
    - http://collegebaseballdaily.com/ Brian Foley
      
      One conference has dominated college baseball…SEC
      
      You are the only one that is making an issue over these teams and it is always an interesting poll….
      Brian Foley
      Editor of College Baseball Daily
      - fred4945
        
        AmK32, If one makes assertions which cannot survive a challenge, the only defense, it seems, is to claim the challenger is “argumentative”.
        
        Brian, The poll is a good idea; I said that at the beginning. One of the purposes of creating a poll is to invite comment. So don’t complain when someone disagrees with your choices. Candidly, you have a history of getting a bit testy when your opinions are challenged; this isn’t a good line of work for the thin-skined.
        
        Keep doing the poll; it’s a good thing. When you’re fortunate enough to get a reader interested enough to comment, don’t be upset because he disagrees with you. Be grateful he had enough interest in what you’re doing to comment.
    - AmK32
      
      There is always one or two people who like to argue about this every year.
- MM25RSN
  
  Alright i had a big long response and page changed somehow and lost it and too late to type it back. And was too busy at work
  to respond earlier.
  
  When first started doing this 4 or 5 years ago there was clearly “Big 6″ conferences who were ahead of the rest by a wide margin so you won’t win that
  argument. It was not even close. But the last 2 years have not been good for
  the Big West and CUSA and the WCC had a great year last year. Next year CUSA will drop even farther. You’ll have Rice, USM, FIU, FAU and MTSU and that’s about it. Same with the Big East.
  
  As for Louisville, I won’t go as far as Brian and say they are easily the best team,
  but they look like the #1 team of this group as of today. But it will take 4 to 5 weeks to get a good idea of who is legit and who is not. But there are a ton of great series and games this weekend. Like Liberty at South Carolina. Might be good year to open up in Columbia and maybe steal series? Doubt it but could
  happen.
  
  I really like Sam Houston State too. They have their top 4 hitters back and 7 of their top 8 from last year team that won the regular season in a very good SLC. They also have some very good arms coming back like Caleb Smith(8-6, 3.23, 97.2) and Michael Buchett(4-3, 3.35, 10 SV).
  
  FIU was one of the last teams out. I had FIU, Belmont and Mercer for the last spot and went with Mercer. Mercer put up great #s last year and has most coming back but they did not play very good schedule. They play Ohio State, ST Johns, and Notre Dame this weekend and play Bethune next weekend. That is 100x better than (4) vs Morehead St, (2) Florida A&M, (3) Presbyterian and (3) High Point to start season last year.
chim097

I like this poll, think its a great idea and I am generally fine with the initial teams you guys have in here. I have three thoughts I wanted to get your opinion on Brian. One, I agree with you that Louisville is the real deal do you see anyone challenging them at the top of this poll in 2013? Two, how do you think the new RPI balance will effect Southern mid-majors versus Northern mid-majors due to the 1.5 points you now get for road wins. Lastly, I like Mercer as well they have all their position players back from last year and several starters and relievers in the bullpen. Do you think they can win a balanced A-Sun Conference this year?
Roger Alexander

Thank you for taking the time to put this poll together.It gives these smaller schools some recognition that they otherwise wouldn’t get.I was at the Mercer baseball banquet last night to hear Dale Murphy and this poll was mentioned from the podium at least twice.
- AmK32
  
  We thank you for reading. In regards to Mercer what are the thoughts in Macon of potentially moving to the SoCon?
fred4945

AmK32

I appreciate you taking the time to explain your calculations — and for your reasons behind the calculations.

My background is in coaching. I think those of us who’ve been inside the game have a different view than observers (including fans). The major difference is that the RPI is often jiggled — usually to the advantage of weaker teams. This year’s NCAA position to give road losses equal weight to home victories is a prime example. There was a time when RPI strongly weighted you opponent’s record and your opponent’s opponents’ records. That was a much less-arguable equation than heavily honoring a team for merely showing up to a road game. Just another bone thrown to the non-competitive programs which skews the game for everyone.

I’m saying the RPI is not an objective measuring stick. All polls and rankings are subjective, but Boydsworld’s strength of schedule, or even ISR, would probably be better.

The objective standard which no one can argue with is CWS performance. In the past 20 years, the championship total reads…

SEC —- 7
PAC —– 4
BIG XII —- 3
WAC —-2
BIG W —- 2
INDY —– 2 (Miami in 1999, 2001)

Or, let’s look at teams in the CWS championship game over the past decade….

SEC 3 champions, 3 runners-up
PAC 3 champions, 2 runners-up
WAC 2 champions
BIG XII 1 champion, 1 runner up
ACC 2 runners up

Even more revealing: the number of teams in the CWS over the past decade….

SEC —– 23

ACC —– 20

PAC —– 15

BIG X!! — 9

BIG W —- 7

CUSA —- 4

WAC —– 3

My point to you is that there really are 4 dominant conferences (some would say 3). To call any other league one of the “Big 5″ or “Big 6″ or “Big 7″ is an attempt to rank the mice with the cats. The mistake journalists & bloggers always make is to try to rank the conferences based on rankings or polls or statistical estimates. The ONLY viable way to rank a conference over a period of years is by championship performance.

I appreciate your candor and effort!
- AmK32
  
  Your 100% right the only true measure is by championships. And i do not think anyone would try to argue your #s.
  
  Rankings are mostly for entertainment and talk. And while i dont really understand the ISR but the math guys like Boyd and JPK swear that is a better indication of how good a team is. However ISR is not used by the NCAA and the RPI is so thats what go with and the top 6 conferences were separated from the rest by a wide enough margin to put them together. And please note i said WERE. If there was a large gap between the top 4 and rest or top 9 and rest then those would probably have been used. Anyway………………
  
  It might not be a coincidence that the gap between teams and conferences has gotten closer with the transfer rules and new bat rules.
  
  I played college baseball in a “mid-major” conference and my best friends are coaches in college baseball right now so ive seen it and hear it from both sides. Personally i like to use good ole fashion eye test of what team is better but unfortunately my private plane is in the shop.