College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Monday (April 8, 2002)
CLEMSON NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER (www.baseballnews.com) POLL
TUCSON, Ariz. — For the third straight week, Clemson (27-2) has been ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball newspaper's NCAA Division I baseball poll.
The Tigers have won 14 of their last 15 games and have outscored opponents by nearly a 3:1 ratio (284 runs to 109). Clemson is hitting .345 as a team with 56 homers in 29 games. The team has also swiped 45 bases and is averaging 9.7 runs per game.
As far as pitching, the Tigers have a 3.26 team ERA and a better than 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio (230 strikeouts, 87 walks). Clemson is also one of the top defensive teams in the nation with a .973 fielding percentage.
POLL NOTES: Several other teams are also on a roll. Florida Atlantic has the longest winning streak in the nation with 22 consecutive wins. It is the longest winning streak for Florida Atlantic since tying the NCAA record in 1999 with 34 straight wins. Mississippi has won 10 straight games, its longest winning streak since the 1964 season. Cal. St. Fullerton has won nine of its last 10 as has East Carolina which took two of three over highly regarded Houston over the past weekend.
The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.
(Top 30 Agate Follows)
NCAA Div. I Poll (As of April 8, 2002) |
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| Rank School (Record) | Points | Previous |
| 1. Clemson (27-2) | 496 | 1 |
| 2. Stanford (22-6) | 493 | 2 |
| 3. Alabama (28-5) | 489 | 5 |
| 4. Rice (28-7) | 485 | 3 |
| 5. Georgia Tech. (27-4) | 483 | 6 |
| 6. Wake Forest (25-6) | 480 | 8 |
| 7. South Carolina (24-8) | 478 | 4 |
| 8. Wichita St. (20-7) | 474 | 10 |
| 9. Mississippi (25-7) | 470 | 11 |
| 10. Nebraska (21-10) | 464 | 13 |
| 11. Houston (23-10) | 461 | 9 |
| 12. Florida (24-10) | 457 | 7 |
| 13. North Carolina (22-11) | 452 | 12 |
| 14. Florida St. (30-11) | 451 | 14 |
| 15. Texas (28-9) | 450 | 15 |
| 16. Texas A&M (26-11) | 448 | 16 |
| 17. Oklahoma St. (22-8) | 445 | 21 |
| 18. Baylor (22-12) | 444 | 18 |
| 19. Cal. St. Fullerton (21-10) | 442 | 19 |
| 20. Florida Atlantic (29-6) | 439 | 22 |
| 21. Long Beach St. (20-9) | 437 | 23 |
| 22. Arizona St. (22-12) | 435 | 20 |
| 23. Richmond (28-3) | 430 | 24 |
| 24. Oklahoma (19-12) | 426 | 17 |
| 25. Ohio St. (18-6-1) | 424 | 25 |
| 26. Stetson (27-5) | 421 | 30 |
| 27. S.W. Missouri St. (20-5) | 418 | — |
| 28. Southern Miss. (21-11) | 414 | — |
| 29. East Carolina (23-7-1) | 412 | — |
| 30. James Madison (26-7) | 409 | — |
"LOUISVILLE SLUGGER'S" NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
3B Jeff Baker, Clemson: Baker hit 5 home runs in five games last week for the Tigers as he went 8-for-18 at the plate. Against Winthrop, he blasted three home runs, including a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the game, 6-4. Baker tallied 9 RBI on the week.
P Bill Verbrick, Wisc.-Stevens Point: Verbrick threw the first 9-inning perfect game in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference history in a 5-0 win over Wisc.-River Falls. He struck out 10 and retired all 27 batters. It was the school's first perfect game since a 5-inning flawless effort during the 1961 season.
P Kevin Field, Georgetown: Field hurled a 7-inning no-hitter against Rutgers but lost a heartbreaker, 1-0 due to a double error in the first inning. Field struck out five and walked three in the contest.
RHP Jeff Mazzola, Albany: Mazzola recorded Albany's first no-hitter since 1965 in a brilliant 7-inning performance with a 3-0 win over Canisius. He retired the first 16 batters he faced before Scott Beebe reached on a hit by pitch which spoiled a perfect game bid. Jim Nass threw the last Albany no-hitter 37 years ago.