College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Monday (May 18, 2009)

U.C. IRVINE NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — U.C. Irvine (40-12) has been ranked No. 1 for the fifth straight time in Collegiate Baseball newspaper's NCAA Division I baseball poll.

The Anteaters, which have won 21 of their last 24 games, captured the Big West Conference with a 20-1 record.

Over the past week, U.C. Irvine lost against San Diego but rebounded with a 3-game sweep of U.C. Davis.

POLL NOTES: Several other teams have been red-hot. Arizona St. has won 8 in a row and captured the Pac-10 Conference with a 19-5 mark. South Carolina has won 10 of its last 11 games, including a 3-game sweep of Georgia over the past weekend. Missouri St. has won seven straight. Louisville has won 11 of its last 12 games and captured the regular season Big East Conference title with a 19-7 record. East Carolina has won six in a row and 9 of its last 10 in winning the Conference USA regular season title (17-7). Five teams fell out of the top 30 this week in Georgia (1-3 last week), Arkansas (1-3), Texas A&M (1-3), Indiana St. (0-4) and South Florida (1-4). New to the poll this week is South Carolina, Ohio St., Coastal Carolina, Washington St. and Missouri St.

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

• OF Brian Cavazos-Galvez, New Mexico: Cavazos-Galvez went 11-for-17 at the plate over four games with 5 home runs, one double, 11 RBI and 12 runs scored.

• 2B Chase Lyles, Northwestern St.: Lyles hit four home runs over three games, knocked in 10 runs and scored 9 times. He was 11-for-14 at the plate (.786) and had a whopping slugging percentage of 1.714.

• RHP Kyle Heckathorn, Kennesaw St.: Heckathorn set a school record with 15 strikeouts during a 6-5 win over North Florida. At one point, he recorded seven consecutive outs via the strikeout. Only one of the 27 outs he recorded came via the fly ball. The 15 strikeouts is the most for an Atlantic Sun Conference pitcher in three seasons.

• 1B Nick Ebert, South Carolina: Ebert finished a 3-game series against Georgia with 4 home runs and 10 RBI as he went 5-for-8 at the plate.

• RHP Mike Leake, Arizona St.: Leake threw the first career shutout of his career during a 9-0 win over Oregon. He only allowed three hits while striking out 12 and walking none. He faced only two batters over the minimum.