College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Monday (March 16, 2009)
NORTH CAROLINA NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER POLL
TUCSON, Ariz. — The University of North Carolina (14-2) has been ranked No. 1 for the first time this season in Collegiate Baseball newspaper's NCAA Division I baseball poll.
Winners of six straight, the Tar Heels have not lost a series over the last 18 sets, including a run of 15 consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference weekends. North Carolina has not dropped a series since April 2007 (at Florida St.) and are 17-0-1 in weekend sets over this stretch.
After hitting just eight home runs over its first 12 games, UNC belted 8 homers last week and added 8 doubles and 2 triples. Carolina swiped 8 bases in Sunday's win over Virginia Tech after stealing just 7 over its first 15 games. The eight steals were the most by the Tar Heels since 2002 and matched the highest single-game total in the Mike Fox era.
Georgia, ranked No. 1 in the last poll, dropped two of three at Alabama and slipped to fourth this week. North Carolina is the third No. 1 team this season ranked by Collegiate Baseball. Louisiana St. was ranked No. 1 in the pre-season poll and the first two weeks of the season.
POLL NOTES: Several other teams have been red-hot. Virginia is still perfect at 15-0. Coastal Carolina has won 12 straight. Oklahoma has won 10 of its last 11 games. Also, Cal. St. Fullerton just finished a grueling 11-day, 8-game road trip with a 7-1 record which included wins over Texas A&M and Oklahoma St. Over that span, the Titans hit .392 as a team with 17 home runs. Five teams fell out of the poll this week in Florida (0-3 last week), San Jose St. (2-3), East Carolina (3-2), Michigan (0-3) and Kentucky (3-2). New teams in the poll include Clemson (11-4), Arkansas (12-3), Alabama (11-5), Mississippi St. (12-5), and Kansas St. (15-3, of to the best start since 2006 when the team started 17-1).
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)
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NCAA Div. I Poll (As of March 16, 2009) |
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| Rank School (Record) | Points | Previous |
| 1. North Carolina (14-2) | 496 | 2 |
| 2. Texas (14-2) | 492 | 4 |
| 3. Georgia Tech. (12-1) | 489 | 6 |
| 4. Georgia (15-2) | 488 | 1 |
| 5. Cal. St. Fullerton (13-3) | 487 | 7 |
| 6. Louisiana St. (13-4) | 485 | 3 |
| 7. Virginia (15-0) | 482 | 18 |
| 8. Arizona St. (14-3) | 480 | 5 |
| 9. Miami, Fla. (14-3) | 479 | 8 |
| 10. Texas A&M (13-4) | 477 | 9 |
| 11. Rice (10-5) | 473 | 10 |
| 12. Oklahoma St. (13-4) | 471 | 12 |
| 13. Coastal Carolina (15-1) | 470 | 14 |
| 14. Texas Christian (10-4) | 467 | 11 |
| 15. Baylor (10-4) | 460 | 13 |
| 16. Cal Poly (11-4) | 457 | 15 |
| 17. U.C. Irvine (10-5) | 455 | 16 |
| 18. Clemson (11-4) | 453 | — |
| 19. Illinois (11-2) | 449 | 21 |
| 20. Mississippi (11-4) | 445 | 20 |
| 21. Oklahoma (17-4) | 442 | 27 |
| 22. Ohio St. (13-2) | 439 | 30 |
| 23. Arkansas (12-3) | 438 | — |
| 24. Alabama (11-5) | 436 | — |
| 25. Mississippi St. (12-5) | 433 | — |
| 26. Kansas St. (15-3) | 431 | — |
| 27. South Carolina (11-4) | 429 | 17 |
| 28. Pepperdine (11-5) | 428 | 22 |
| 29. Lamar (15-4) | 426 | 23 |
| 30. U.C. Santa Barbara (12-4) | 424 | 24 |
"LOUISVILLE SLUGGER'S" NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
RHP Ryan Berry, Rice: Berry fired a complete game 1-hitter against the University of San Diego. He carried a perfect game into the seventh inning and a no-hitter into the eighth as he settled on the 1-hitter. Berry did not walk a batter and struck out eight. He currently has a streak of 28 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
RF Kent Matthes, Alabama: Matthes belted 4 homers over 5 games last week with 11 RBIs and 8 runs scored as he extended his hitting streak to 16 games. Matthes leads the nation with 13 home runs in 16 games and has hit circuit clouts in 11 of Alabama's 16 contests.
RHP Alex Wimmers, Ohio St.: Wimmers struck out 15 batters and went the distance during a 20-3 win over Pittsburgh. He scattered six hits and only walked two batters as he fired the first complete game of 2009 for Ohio St.
SS Bryan Marquez, New Mexico St.: Marquez belted 4 homers over 5 games last week with 13 RBIs as he went 9-for-15 at the plate. He tied a career-high for RBIs (5) as he hit a solo home run and a game-tying grand slam to lead New Mexico St. to a 10-inning, 11-10 win over Northern Colorado last Sunday. It marked his second grand slam of the weekend as he accounted for 8 of the Aggies' 11 runs that day with 5 RBIs.
RHP Stephen Strasburg, San Diego St.: Strasburg struck out 14 UNLV batters over 7 innings. Eight of the first nine and 10 of the first 12 outs he recorded came via the strikeout. He is 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA. Over his four starts, he has struck out 59 in 27 1/3 innings, an average of 19.4 strikeouts per nine innings.