Florida Holds Top Spot, Minor Shuffling As Well…
TUCSON, Ariz. — The University of Florida (2-1) has been ranked No. 1 in the first regular-season NCAA Division I baseball poll of 2012 by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
The Gators, ranked No. 1 in the pre-season Collegiate Baseball poll last December, kicked off the season by beating Cal. St. Fullerton two of three games in Gainesville, Fla. Florida won the first two contests, 7-3 and 5-2 before the Titans captured the final game of the series, 8-5 in a matchup of top 20 teams. Florida only committed one error over the three games.
Two-time defending national champion South Carolina, ranked second, began the season 3-0 as did No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Rice. In fact, 16 teams in the top 30 this week began the season with perfect 3-0 records.
Poll Notes: South Carolina’s pitching staff picked up where it left off last season during its 3-game sweep of VMI. The Gamecocks utilized 11 pitchers. They combined for 36 strikeouts and just four walks over 27 innings as the staff registered a 1.33 ERA. Stanford was impressive in its 3-game sweep of Vanderbilt. The Cardinal won 8-3, 9-5 and 18-5. Arizona St. started the season with a trio of wins over Western Michigan. The Sun Devils outscored the Broncos, 40-2. LSU outscored its opposition, 33-2, over the weekend in posting two wins over Air Force and one victory over Alcorn State. Two teams fell out of the top 30 this week in UCLA (lost two of three at home to Maryland) and Vanderbilt (0-3). Two new teams to the poll are College of Charleston (3-0) and Georgia Southern (3-0).
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 Feb. 20, 2012) |
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Rank School (Record) | Points | Previous |
1. Florida (2-1) | 495 | 1 |
2. South Carolina (3-0) | 494 | 2 |
3. Stanford (3-0) | 493 | 3 |
4. Texas A&M (3-0) | 490 | 6 |
5. Rice (3-0) | 487 | 7 |
6. North Carolina (2-1) | 485 | 4 |
7. Texas (2-1) | 482 | 5 |
8. Arkansas (3-0) | 480 | 8 |
9. Louisiana St. (3-0) | 479 | 12 |
10. Georgia Tech. (3-1) | 477 | 9 |
11. Florida St. (3-0) | 475 | 13 |
12. Miami, Fla. (3-0) | 473 | 14 |
13. Arizona St. (3-0) | 471 | 17 |
14. Georgia (3-0) | 468 | 18 |
15. Texas Christian (1-1) | 467 | 10 |
16. Louisville (2-1) | 464 | 15 |
17. Oklahoma (1-2) | 461 | 16 |
18. St. John’s (1-2) | 458 | 11 |
19. Cal. St. Fullerton (1-2) | 457 | 21 |
20. California (3-0) | 454 | 22 |
21. Oregon St. (3-1) | 449 | 24 |
22. Arizona (2-1) | 447 | 20 |
23. Stetson (3-0) | 444 | 26 |
24. Oregon (2-1) | 442 | 27 |
25. Clemson (2-1) | 439 | 25 |
26. Baylor (3-0) | 437 | 28 |
27. U.C. Irvine (3-0) | 436 | 29 |
28. Southern Miss. (2-1) | 433 | 30 |
29. Coll. of Charleston (3-0) | 429 | — |
30. Georgia Southern (3-0) | 426 | — |