Collegiate Baseball Div 1 Poll (3-1-21)

ARKANSAS NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Arkansas (7-0) is ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Division I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

Last week the Razorbacks beat Texas Christian and swept a 4-game series against S.E. Missouri St. Through 7 games, Arkansas has only committed 3 errors and is averaging 7.7 runs per game with 29 extra base hits. The pitching staff has struck out 80 batters with 32 walks.

In key series over the weekend, Virginia Tech. took two of three at Miami (Fla.), Georgia Tech. swept a 3-game series on the road at N.C. State, North Carolina won two of three at home against Virginia, South Carolina won two against Clemson, Pittsburgh swept a 3-game series at Florida St. for the first time in history and Oregon St. swept a 4-game series at Grand Canyon.

Poll Notes: Several teams have been red-hot. Stetson (9-0) is off to the best start in the 106-year history of the program. Georgia and Oregon St. have won 7 straight, Oklahoma St., South Carolina and Pittsburgh 6 in a row while Florida, LSU, Arizona, and Georgia Tech. have each won 5 consecutive.

Six teams fell out of the top 30 this week in N.C. State (0-4), Clemson (0-2), Florida St. (0-3), Duke (1-3), San Francisco (1-3) and Ball St. (2-2).

New to the top 30 is Georgia Tech. (6-1), North Carolina (6-1), Stetson (9-0), Oregon St. (7-1), Virginia Tech. (5-1) and Pittsburgh (6-1).   

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1959 college baseball season.

Collegiate Baseball’s
NCAA Div. I Baseball Poll
(As of March 1, 2021)

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Collegiate Baseball’s
National Players Of The Week

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DH Wes Clarke, South Carolina: Clarke hit 5 home runs with 8 RBI and posted a 1.833 slugging percentage in three games. He belted 3 homers in a win over Winthrop and then hit two more against Clemson. The previous week, he hit 3 homers with his total for the season now at 8 homers in only 6 games. Clarke has matched his home run total of last year and has 16 in his last 22 games.

LHP Will Dion, McNeese St.: Dion tied a McNeese school record with 19 strikeouts during a 5-0 complete game against Prairie View. He retired the first 13 batters he faced, striking out eight. He faced just 3 batters over the minimum, allowing 3 hits and walking 1 during the 9-inning contest. Of the 103 pitches he threw, 87 were strikes.

LHP Chase Stratton, William Penn (IA): Stratton pitched a 7-inning no-hitter during a 3-0 win over Northwestern (IA) with 12 strikeouts. He was one error away from throwing a perfect game as he fired 89 pitches in the game.

UT Dominic Keegan, Vanderbilt: Keegan belted 3 home runs with 4 doubles and 11 RBI over 5 games for the Commodores as he went 10-for-15 at the plate with 8 runs scored. He also walked 6 times.

RHP Mason Black, Lehigh: Black didn’t allow a hit through 5 innings of work and struck out 11 of the 16 batters he faced on 73 pitches against Coppin State and didn’t walk a batter. The 11 strikeouts are a career high.

3B/1B/SS Kevin Brophy, West Virginia: Brophy hit 3 homers over 3 games with 7 RBI and 3 runs scored.

RHP Zane Mills, Washington St.: Mills fanned a career-high 13 Dixie State batters in seven innings of work and didn’t walk a batter in 7 innings of work.

LHP Matt Sparling, Florida Atlantic: Sparling struck out 10 Seton Hall batters over 6 innings and retired 16 of the final 18 batters he faced. What made the outing even more special was that he only pitched 5 innings the previous 3 years for Florida Atlantic (2 in 2018, none in 2019 and 3 in 2020). If that wasn’t enough, he was hit by a line drive in the third but recovered to throw the 85-pitch gem.

OF Jacob Young, Florida: Young delivered 6 doubles and collected 11 hits in 22 at-bats over 5 games for the Gators. He also had 6 RBI, 4 stolen bases and 17 total bases. If that wasn’t enough, he threw out the potential tying run at home in the top of the fourth inning in one game.