College Baseball Power Rankings: Three new teams enter top ten

Jonathan Wagner

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While college basketball season is now finished, college baseball season is in full swing. It’s the time of the year where we are more than halfway through the regular season, and postseason projections are rolling in. This past week across the country will have an impact on those projections, and they also will with our updated college baseball power rankings this week.

Last weekend featured quite a few upsets, and also matchups between two top 25 teams. That, paired with an upset-heavy midweek slate this week, have led to some big changes in this week’s rankings. We have four new teams inside our top 25, with three teams jumping up into the top ten.

This weekend features a few intriguing weekend series. The headliners are Vanderbilt at Texas A&M and Arkansas at Alabama, with others such as South Carolina at Florida, UCF at West Virginia, and Oregon at USC looking interesting as well.

Resumes are taking shape and the postseason picture becomes more clear with each week. For now, here is how our college baseball power rankings look with big changes from last week as we continue to inch closer to the end of the regular season.

1. Arkansas

Brady Tygart — © Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Record: 29-3 (11-1 in SEC)
Previous: No. 1
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 1

Arkansas continues to cruise through the regular season. The Razorbacks, coming off of a three-game sweep over Ole Miss and a two-game midweek sweep over San Jose State, are now 29-3 overall and have just lost one of their 12 SEC games so far. They are the clear top-ranked team in the country, and will look to keep that rolling this weekend in Tuscaloosa against Alabama.

2. Clemson

Cam Cannarella-Clemson-UCF — (Clemsonbaseball/Twitter)

Record: 28-4 (10-2 in ACC)
Previous: No. 2
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 2

Clemson is also enjoying a great year, and finished off a sweep, though it was a tight one, at Notre Dame this past weekend. The Tigers did drop their midweek game this week to USC Upstate, falling 9-5. Despite that, Clemson has just four losses overall and is 10-2 in a strong ACC. The Tigers are in a pretty comfortable position at No. 2, and host NC State this weekend.

3. Texas A&M

texas-am-jace-laviolette-ryan-targac-early-home-runs-give-aggies-lead-standford-regional-ncaa-tournament — (Wade/Icon Sportswire)

Record: 29-4 (8-4 in SEC)
Previous: No. 4 (+1)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 3

Texas A&M is coming off of a series victory at South Carolina last weekend, as they took the first two games before dropping the finale. The Aggies then picked up a tight, comeback 6-5 victory over UTSA to begin this week. This weekend will be a big test in College Station, as Vanderbilt comes to town for what is the most intriguing series on this weekend’s slate.

4. Oregon State

Gavin Turley — © Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 27-4 (8-3 in Pac-12)
Previous: No. 5 (+1)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 5

Oregon State had a strong weekend, sweeping Arizona State in a strong showing. The Beavers then hosted Portland in a midweek contest, and won an 11-8 game to improve to 17-4 on the season. For the most part, this team has been exceptional this season. They look to be a pretty clear-cut top five team in the country, and move up a spot in our college baseball rankings before hosting Stanford this weekend.

5. Tennessee

aj-russell — Credit: UT Athletics Communications

Record: 27-6 (7-5 in SEC)
Previous: No. 6 (+1)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 4

Despite losing 9-5 in last weekend’s series opener at Auburn, Tennessee responded with dominating 12-2 and 19-5 victories to wint he final two games and clinch the series. The Vols then dominated in a 20-2 midweek win over Alabama A&M, improving to 27-6 on the season. This looks to be another very strong Tennessee team at this point in the season. They will face a struggling LSU team in Knoxville this weekend.

6. Vanderbilt

Alan Espinal — © Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 26-7 (8-4 in SEC)
Previous: No. 8 (+2)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 6

Vanderbilt, like Tennessee, lost their series opener on the road this past weekend. The Commodores fell 10-6 against LSU, before winning 8-6 and 13-3 in the final two games of the weekend to take the series. Vanderbilt then defeated Middle Tennessee 14-1 in the midweek, improving to 26-7 on the year. All eyes will be on Vanderbilt and Texas A&M this weekend.

7. Duke

Record: 24-9 (9-6 in ACC)
Previous: No. 9 (+2)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 7

While every one of Duke’s games this past weekend against Miami was close, the Blue Devils were able to secure the sweep. Duke won each of the weekend’s three games by a single run to improve to 9-6 in ACC play. The Blue Devils dropped their midweek contest this week against William & Mary, falling 4-2. But They are on the move up in our college baseball power rankings ahead of this weekend’s trip to Pitt.

8. East Carolina

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart — © Andrew Craft / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 25-7 (6-3 in AAC)
Previous: No. 14 (+6)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 9

ECU has had some ups and downs since starting AAC play, but the Pirates grinded out a series win at FAU last weekend despite losing on Saturday. They then won a pair of midweek games, 12-0 over Elon and 7-5 over Old Dominion, to begin a five-game week. ECU will host Charlotte for a highly-anticipated AAC series this weekend.

9. Virginia

Jun 16, 2023; Omaha, NE, USA; Virginia Cavaliers shortstop Griff O’Ferrall (6) scores a run against the Florida Gators during the seventh inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Record: 26-7 (9-6 in ACC)
Previous: No. 15 (+6)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 11

It was quite the weekend for Virginia, who took the first two games in their series over North Carolina. After winning 14-11 and 7-2 to clinch the series, UNC won the finale to prevent the Virginia sweep. Virginia then won 8-4 over a pretty solid VCU club to begin this week’s action, and they’ll head to Louisville over the weekend. It’s a pretty notable jump for Virginia into the top ten in our college baseball power rankings, just as it was for ECU above them and Florida State below them.

10. Florida State

Daniel Cantu — © Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

Record: 27-5 (7-5 in ACC)
Previous: No. 16 (+6)
D1Baseball Ranking: No. 10

Florida State split the first two games of last weekend’s series at Boston College, winning the opener 12-4 before falling 7-6 in the second game. The Seminoles were able to take the series in the finale behind a 9-2 victory, and they then dominated against Florida in a 19-4 midweek blowout. The Seminoles are back on the move and rise up into the top ten as a result.

College Baseball Power Rankings: 11-25

Dalton Pence — © Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

11. UC Irvine
12. Kentucky (+5)
13. North Carolina (-6)
14. Wake Forest (+7)
15. Dallas Baptist (-5)
16. Louisiana (NR)
17. Coastal Carolina (+2)
18. Indiana State (+6)
19. Virginia Tech (-7)
20. UCF (NR)
21. Nebraska (+1)
22. Mississippi State (+1)
23. Creighton (NR)
24. Oklahoma State (NR)
25. Georgia

In addition to ECU, Virginia and Florida State rising six spots, Indiana State did the same in this week’s college baseball power rankings. Wake Forest rose seven spots and back into the top 15. UNC and Dallas Baptist both fell out of the top ten this week, as did Florida, who is out of the top 25 completely. The Gators have won some SEC series, but last weekend’s sweep against Missouri and blowout loss to FSU on the midweek was enough to drop Florida out with a 17-15 record.

Four new teams join this week – Louisiana, UCF, Creighton and Oklahoma State. They take the places of Florida (previously No. 3), Alabama (previously No. 13), South Carolina (previously No. 18) and LSU (previously No. 20).