Collegiate Baseball Poll-March 28

Florida, ranked No. 1 for the previous five weeks, fell to fourth after losing two of three at home to South Carolina.

Virginia (24-2 overall, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won five straight and 18 of its last 19 games. The pitching staff has a 2.00 ERA with a better than 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio (289 strikeouts and 58 walks). The Cavaliers’ defense is fielding at a .986 clip and has committed only 14 errors over 26 games. On offense, Virginia is averaging 7.2 runs per game.

Poll Notes: Several other teams have been red-hot. Georgia Tech (21-4) has won 16 straight games and leads the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 9-0 record. North Carolina has won 9 in a row, Fresno St. 7 straight, Alabama 7 consecutive, Texas A&M 6 straight and California 6 in a row. In other key series over the past weekend, Vanderbilt beat Arkansas two of three, Texas lost two of three at Oklahoma St., Arizona St. won two of three against Arizona, Georgia Tech. swept a 3-game series against Miami (Fla.), Mississippi St. swept a 3-game series against Auburn, Southern Miss. beat Tulane two of three, and Wichita St. and Oregon split a 4-game series. Three teams fell out of the top 30 in Auburn (0-4 last week), Miami, Fla. (2-3) and Oregon (3-2). New to the poll this week is Alabama (18-7 overall, 5-1 Southeastern Conference), Central Florida (18-6 overall) and Mississippi St. (18-6 overall, 4-game winning streak).

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.