College Baseball Poll - Collegiate
Baseball Newspaper
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Monday
(March 17, 2003)
ARIZONA ST. NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER (www.baseballnews.com) POLL
TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona St. University (30-2) has
been ranked No. 1 for the second straight time in Collegiate Baseball newspaper's
NCAA Division I baseball poll.
The Sun Devils, which have been victorious in 20 of its
last 21 games, won two of three games against Oklahoma over the past weekend. ASU began
the series with a 6-5 loss but came back with 10-3 and 10-2 wins over the No. 30 ranked
Sooners. Arizona St. has now scored in double digits in 19 games overall and 12 of its
last 14 games. The pitching staff has a 3.07 ERA.
No. 2 Florida St. (24-2) swept a 3-game series against
Virginia. Georgia Tech. (17-1), ranked third, saw its 17-game winning streak snapped
against Kent St. in a 5-3 loss. The 17 straight wins to open the 2003 season set a new
record for the best start in school history, eclipsing the previous mark of 16-0 in 1987.
No. 4 Rice continues to be superb. The Owls (19-1) have
won 16 straight games and have only committed four errors this season in 20 games. In
fact, Rice is working on a streak of 58 2/3 errorless innings. The staff ERA is superb at
2.49 while the offense is hitting .318.
Poll Notes: Several other teams have
been red-hot lately. North Carolina St. (18-4) has won 13 straight games and moved into
the No. 25 position this week. Alabama and Clemson have each won eight in a row. Three
teams fell out of the poll this week in N.C. Greensboro (2-3 last week), Tulane (2-2) and
South Florida (2-2).
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)
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's |
NCAA Div. I Poll (As of March 17, 2003) |
www.baseballnews.com |
| Rank School
(Record) |
Points |
Previous |
| 1. Arizona
St. (30-2) |
494 |
1 |
| 2. Florida
St. (24-2) |
493 |
3 |
| 3. Georgia
Tech. (17-1) |
492 |
2 |
| 4. Rice
(19-1) |
491 |
4 |
| 5. Cal.
St. Fullerton (18-4) |
487 |
5 |
| 6. Long
Beach St. (16-6) |
484 |
8 |
| 7.
Stanford (14-7) |
482 |
7 |
| 8. Baylor
(17-6) |
479 |
9 |
| 9.
Mississippi St. (13-2-1) |
472 |
10 |
| 10. Texas (18-7) |
470 |
11 |
| 11. South
Carolina (15-5) |
467 |
6 |
| 12. Richmond
(13-2) |
464 |
12 |
| 13. Miami, Fla.
(15-4) |
460 |
13 |
| 14. Clemson
(11-3) |
455 |
19 |
| 15. Louisiana St.
(13-7-1) |
450 |
18 |
| 16. Wake Forest
(13-5) |
449 |
15 |
| 17. Auburn (18-5) |
447 |
14 |
| 18. Alabama
(16-3) |
446 |
24 |
| 19. Kansas (18-6) |
443 |
17 |
| 20. Arizona
(17-7) |
440 |
21 |
| 21. Texas A&M
(19-5) |
439 |
22 |
| 22. Florida
(15-5-1) |
437 |
16 |
| 23. Arkansas
(16-2) |
433 |
27 |
| 24. Nebraska
(11-4) |
430 |
20 |
| 25. North
Carolina St. (18-4) |
428 |
— |
| 26. Notre Dame
(9-5) |
427 |
26 |
| 27. Alabama-Birm.
(17-3) |
424 |
— |
| 28. Coastal
Carolina (18-4) |
420 |
— |
| 29. Wichita St.
(13-5) |
419 |
25 |
| 30. Oklahoma
(11-5) |
408 |
30 |
"LOUISVILLE SLUGGER'S"
NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
 | RHP Grant Reynolds, Kennesaw St.: Reynolds
struck out 19 batters in a 9-inning complete game against South Carolina-Aiken in a 14-4
win. He tied the Peach Belt Conference record for strikeouts in a game.
|
| RHP Tony Neal, South Alabama: Neal
struck out a career-high 15 batters in eight innings to lead the Jaguars to an 8-0 win
over Jacksonville St. He yielded three hits and only gave up one walk.
|
| CF Alex Borgo, New Mexico St.: Borgo
belted 5 home runs with 21 RBI last week over six games. He added 5 doubles and a triple.
His slugging percentage for the week was 1.462 as he was 16-for-26 at the plate.
|
| RHP Jeff Petersen, Washington: Petersen threw a
complete-game 1-hitter in an 11-0 win over Cal. St. Northridge. The junior pitcher, who
had never gone further than 5 2/3 innings, needed only 105 pitches to complete the game.
He walked one and faced only three over the minimum as he struck out six. |
