College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Monday (March 2, 2009)

LOUISIANA STATE NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Louisiana St. University (7-0) has been ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA Division I baseball poll of the season by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

The Tigers, which have been ranked No. 1 for the third straight poll, swept a 3-game series at home against Central Florida over the past weekend and have won seven straight to kick off the 2009 season. LSU completed their sixth straight regular season series sweep dating back to last season and have now won 23 straight regular-season games over the past two seasons.

POLL NOTES: No. 2 Georgia (8-0) is off to its best start since the 2000 season and swept a 3-game series at Arizona over the past weekend. The best start in Bulldog history belongs to the 1911 team which won its first nine games. Another team that made a jump in the poll is Texas (9-0) which moved from eighth to fourth this week.

Several other red-hot teams include Miami, Fla. which swept a 3-game series at Florida. Cal. St. Fullerton swept a 3-game series against Stanford. Rice knocked off four quality teams over the past week, including Houston, UCLA, Texas A&M and Baylor. Cal Poly SLO enters the poll for the first time this year at No. 17 with a 6-1 record. The Mustangs, which swept a 3-game series over the last weekend against Sacramento St., have also knocked off Rice two of three games and defending national champion Fresno St. Ohio St. has been impressive with a 7-0 record.

Five teams dropped out of the poll this week in Stanford (0-4 last week), Fresno St. (1-3), UCLA (0-5), Southern California (1-3), and San Diego St. (2-3). New to the poll this week is South Carolina (4-0), Cal Poly SLO (6-1), Lamar (9-1), East Carolina (5-1) and Mississippi St. (8-1).

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)

"LOUISVILLE SLUGGER'S" NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

• RHP Brandon Workman, Texas: Workman recorded the 21st no-hitter in Texas Longhorns' history during a 9-0, 9-inning win over Penn State. He allowed just three base runners in the game, two on walks and one on an error while striking out 10 batters.

• RHP Hayden Simpson, Southern Arkansas: Simpson came within one batter of a perfect game in throwing his first career no-hitter during a 10-0 win over Culver-Stockton (Mo.) College. Simpson required just 80 pitches over seven innings to hold the Wildcats hitless as he struck out 13 and faced the minimum 21 batters. He lost the perfect game by walking the leadoff hitter on a 3-2 count to begin the game. He was erased on a line drive double play.

• RHP Stephen Strasburg, San Diego St.: Strasburg struck out 16 batters over 6 2/3 innings with one walk as the Aztecs beat Nevada, 5-2. Strasburg is now 2-0 on the year for San Diego St.

• RHP Ryan Berry, Rice: Berry held Texas A&M to just two hits and no runs in a 9-inning, complete game 2-0 win over the Aggies. He struck out 12 batters without allowing a walk. Berry recorded six three-up, three-down innings and never faced more than four batters in any frame. He was so dominating that he only reached three balls in a count to a batter three times.
• RF Kent Matthes, Alabama: Matthes hit for the cycle in one game, had two game-winning RBIs, including a walk-off 10th inning blast, and tied the school record with a home run in five straight games. He was 11-for-20 (.500) with six home runs and 15 RBI and a whopping 1.650 slugging mark. Matthes has also added 11 runs, two doubles and one triple in the last seven days.