OREGON ST. NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Oregon St. (15-1) is ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Div. I baseball poll for the third straight week presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Beavers took two of three at home against Cal. St. Fullerton over the past weekend. In the process, OSU has now won 16 consecutive regular-season series dating back to the 2016 season.

Oregon St. is hitting .309 and averaging 7 runs per game. The Beavers have stolen 17 of 20 bases while limiting opponents to only 3 in 16 games. The pitching staff has a 2.69 ERA with 127 strikeouts and 49 walks.

Poll Notes: In key series over the past week, Florida dropped two against Central Florida, Florida St. lost two of three at Wake Forest, Kentucky beat Texas Tech. two of three, Clemson swept three from Georgia Tech., Stanford took three of four at Texas, Louisville won two of three at home against North Carolina, Texas A&M swept a 3-game series from Long Beach St. and Duke took two of three against Virginia.

Several teams have been red hot. Central Florida has won 12 in a row, Stetson and Missouri 8 straight, Clemson, Texas A&M and Mississippi 7 consecutive. Duke has won 11 of its last 12 while Illinois has won 7 of 8.

Five teams fell out of the top 30 in Dallas Baptist (2-2 last week), Virginia (2-2), Texas (1-3), Missouri St. (2-2), and Georgia Tech. (1-3). New to the poll is Central Florida (13-3), Missouri (13-3), Duke (12-3), Florida Gulf Coast (13-2) and Oregon (11-4).

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 12, 2018)

Presented By
www.bigleaguechew.com 

Collegiate Baseball’s
National Players Of The Week

RHP Casey Mize, Auburn: Mize fired the ninth no-hitter in Auburn history with a 6-0 win over Northeastern as he struck out 13 batters over nine innings. His strikeout total was the most by an Auburn pitcher since Jon Luke Jacobs also fanned 13 in 2012. Mize did not issue a walk in a start for the sixth time going back to last season. The lone Northeastern base runner reached on a fielding error in the fourth inning.  

RHP Parker Kelly, Oregon: Kelly was dominant in three appearances out of the bullpen as he struck out 14 batters over 7 innings, including a career high 7 during a 5-4 win over U.C. Davis. In that game, he came into a tie game and proceeded to strike out 7 of the 10 batters he faced to get his fourth win of the season. He followed that with a 3-inning stint as he struck out 6 of 10 batters.  

LF Logan Foster, Texas A&M: Foster belted 4 home runs and drove in 10 runs over 5 games last week. He went 6-for-18 at the plate and scored 7 runs with 5 walks.  

CF Jacob Rhinesmith, Western Kentucky: Rhinesmith hit 4 home runs with 2 doubles and drove in 11 runs as he went 11-for-20 at the plate over four games. He also scored 10 runs.  

OF Jeff Riedel, Ball State: Riedel tied an NCAA Division I single-game record with 5 doubles during a game against Western Carolina. He went 5-for-6 with 5 doubles, 6 RBI and 3 runs scored in a 20-8 win. For the week, he was 11-for-23 at the plate with 7 RBI and 8 runs scored with 19 total bases.  

C/1B Troy Squires, Kentucky: Squires went 12-for-21 over five games with 11 RBI, 5 doubles, 2 home runs and 6 runs scored. He had 23 total bases with a 1.095 slugging percentage.  

OF Drew Mount, Kansas State: Mount became the first Wildcat to hit 2 grand slams in a game since 1994 during a 12-3 win over Mercer. Over four games last week, he was 6-for-15 with 3 home runs, 13 RBI and 6 runs scored.  

LHP John Rooney & RHP Seamus Brazill, Hofstra: The duo combined to throw Hofstra’s second no-hitter of the season during an 11-0 win over Mount St. Mary’s. Rooney threw 6 innings without allowing a hit with 8 strikeouts while Brazill went the final 3 innings with 2 strikeouts. Brazill had thrown Hofstra’s first-ever no-hitter at Lamar on Feb. 24. Rooney has not allowed a run in his first 3 starts and has 26 strikeouts over 20 innings.

RHP Jack Maynard, N.C. Greensboro: Maynard struck out 14 batters in two outings last week over 7 innings without allowing a run. In 3 1/3 innings against Elon, he fanned a career-high 8 batters. Then against Lafayette in 3 2/3 innings, he struck out 6 more.