College Baseball Rankings: Predicting D1Baseball's top 25 after 12 ranked teams lose series

Jonathan Wagner

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What a wild weekend we had across college baseball. There were five weekend series between two ranked teams, and the results have had a notable impact on our D1Baseball top 25 predictions.

Of those five series between two ranked teams, four entered Sunday evened up at 1-1. Overall, six top 25 teams faced a rubber match on Sunday, needing a win to avoid a weekend series loss. In the end, 12 ranked teams lost their series over the weekend. Just five teams (Arkansas, Vanderbilt, East Carolina, Campbell and UC Santa Barbara) had a perfect week.

We are predicting some significant movement in D1Baseball’s top 25 rankings. That is likely only to continue over the coming weeks, as conference play continues to get fully underway. There won’t always be as many ranked matchups as this weekend, but it was an exciting one for college baseball.

Here is a full look at how we expect D1Baseball’s top 25 rankings to look when they are released on Monday morning, including five new faces with one leaping all the way into the top 15.

1. Arkansas

Brady Tygart — © Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Previous Ranking: No. 1
Weekly Record: 4-0
Overall Record: 17-2

Arkansas, after becoming the new No. 1 in D1Baseball’s top 25 rankings, had another strong week. Against an Oral Roberts club that made it to Omaha last year, the Razorbacks picked up a 4-2 win. They then played host to Missouri in the opening weekend of SEC play, and cruised to a weekend sweep. Arkansas won 8-0 on Friday, 6-0 on Saturday and 9-1 on Sunday.

2. Oregon State

Jun 12, 2022; Corvallis, OR, USA; Oregon State Beavers infielder Travis Bazzana (37) is congratulated by third base coach Ryan Gipson as he circles the bases after his home run in the 4th inning during Game 2 of a NCAA Super Regional game at Coleman Field. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Previous Ranking: No. 3 (+1)
Weekly Record: 2-1
Overall Record: 17-2

Oregon State moved up into the top three in D1Baseball’s top 25 rankings entering this week, and for good reason. The Beavers have kept winning, taking care of business at Utah to begin Pac-12 play. Oregon State won 7-5 on Friday and 8-1 on Saturday before falling 14-11 in Sunday’s finale.

3. Vanderbilt

RJ Austin — © Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Previous Ranking: No. 9 (+6)
Weekly Record: 4-0
Overall Record: 18-3

Vanderbilt is playing some great baseball right now. After defeating Indiana 13-5 to kick off the week, Vanderbilt faced off against No. 18 Auburn in their first SEC weekend series. Vanderbilt won 11-1 on Friday and 13-5 on Saturday to win the series. As they aimed for the sweep on Sunday, Vanderbilt got just that with a 9-6 win.

4. Florida

florida-gators-baseball-jac-caglianone — Photo courtesy of UAA Communications

Previous Ranking: No. 8 (+4)
Weekly Record: 2-2
Overall Record: 12-7

Florida has had an up-and-down season already, and that continued this week. The Gators lost in an in-state midweek game against Florida State, losing 12-8 on Tuesday. They then won Friday’s SEC opener, 8-6 against No. 4 Texas A&M. The Aggies evened things up on Saturday, winning 10-6 on Saturday. That set up yet another big-time rubber match, where Florida earned an impressive 4-2 victory to take the series.

5. Clemson

clemson-baseball-wins-11th-straight-game-after-blake-wright-delivers-game-winning-heroics-vs-unc — (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Previous Ranking: No. 10 (+5)
Weekly Record: 4-1
Overall Record: 17-2

Clemson took on Manhattan in two midweek games to begin their week, winning 13-1 on Tuesday and 5-1 on Wednesday. The Tigers then went to Duke to begin ACC play in what turned into another great top ten series. Duke won 5-2 on Friday, but Clemson got the series even with a 8-7 win on Saturday. In Sunday’s rubber match, Clemson won 8-6 in extras to earn a very impressive series victory.

6. Texas A&M

Jace Laviolette, Texas A&M Baseball — (Photo By Hayden Carroll/Texas A&M Athletics)

Previous Ranking: No. 4 (-2)
Weekly Record: 2-2
Overall Record: 18-2

After picking up a 9-8 midweek victory against Sam Houston, Texas A&M entered SEC play undefeated. That quickly changed, though, as the Aggies lost 8-6 at Florida on Friday night. They responded on Saturday with a 10-6 win to even the series, setting up Sunday’s rubber match. There, it was the Gators that had the last laugh, defeating the Aggies 4-2. Texas A&M doesn’t fall far in our predicted D1Baseball top 25 rankings, though.

7. LSU

Catcher Hayden Travinski 25 as The LSU Tigers take on the Kentucky Wildcats in game 2 of the 2023 NCAA Div 1 Super Regional Baseball Championship at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA. Sunday, June 11, 2023. — SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK

Previous Ranking: No. 2 (-5)
Weekly Record: 3-2
Overall Record: 17-4

Before starting their SEC slate, LSU hosted North Dakota State for two midweek games. Both of those went down as Tiger victories, winning 6-1 on Tuesday and 7-0 on Wednesday. LSU then took on Mississippi State in Starkville. It was the Bulldogs that won Friday’s opener, taking it 10-4. LSU took Saturday’s game 9-8 to even the series, before falling 15-5 on Sunday to lose the series in stunning fashion.

8. East Carolina

ECU Zach Root — © Andrew Craft / USA TODAY NETWORK

Previous Ranking: No. 11 (+3)
Weekly Record: 4-0
Overall Record: 14-4

ECU’s week began in a tight midweek contest at UNC Wilmington, and the Pirates ultimately won 8-7 in extra innings. They then hosted Columbia in their final non-conference weekend, and mostly dominated throughout the series. ECU won 17-3 on Friday, 8-0 on Saturday, and 8-6 on Sunday.

9. Alabama

TJ McCants — © Gary CosbyJr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK

Previous Ranking: No. 14 (+5)
Weekly Record: 2-2
Overall Record: 17-3

Alabama has been great this season, and that continued this week despite two losses. The first came on Tuesday at Southern Miss, falling 9-7. But then, Alabama won an impressive series over No. 5 Tennessee. The Tide fell 11-3 in Friday’s opener before taking Saturday 6-3 and Sunday 7-6 to walk out of the weekend with a series victory. Rob Vaughn’s squad could very easily find themselves ranked in the top ten when D1Baseball’s new top 25 comes out.

10. Tennessee

Christian Moore — © Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Previous Ranking: No. 5 (-5)
Weekly Record: 2-2
Overall Record: 18-3

Tennessee’s week started off with a 17-2 midweek win against Eastern Kentucky, giving them another dominant win entering conference play. The Vols went to Alabama to kick off their SEC slate, and took Friday’s opener 11-3 before falling 6-3 on Saturday. That set up a rubber match on Sunday, where Tennessee fell 7-6 to suffer a series loss to begin SEC play.

D1Baseball Top 25 Predictions: 11-25

Casey Saucke — Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

11. Virginia (+6)
12. Duke (-6)
13. Coastal Carolina (+3)
14. Wake Forest (-7)
15. Florida State (NR)
16. Dallas Baptist (+3)
17. Campbell (+4)
18. Oklahoma (NR)
19. North Carolina (-4)
20. UC Irvine (+2)
21. UC Santa Barbara (+4)
22. TCU (-10)
23. Virginia Tech (NR)
24. Nebraska (NR)
25. Ole Miss (NR)

Florida State, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Nebraska and Ole Miss all join the top 25 in our D1Baseball rankings predictions. This week’s rankings are going to be absolutely crazy to put together, but those teams did enough to earn a spot inside the top 25. They take the places of NC State (previously No. 13), Auburn (previously No. 18), South Carolina (previously No. 20), Texas (previously No. 23) and Texas Tech (previously No. 24).

In addition to the teams that fell out, plenty of others were considered in our predictions, including Northeastern and Mississippi State. Ultimately, though, they finished just outside alongside the five teams that dropped out.