Collegiate Baseball Div 1 Poll (3-29-21)

VANDERBILT NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Vanderbilt (19-3) is ranked No. 1 for the second straight week in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Division I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Commodores, winners of four straight and 16 of their last 18, swept a 3-game series on the road at Missouri over the past weekend.

Vanderbilt is No. 1 in NCAA Div. I with a 2.19 ERA. The pitching staff has struck out 268 batters which is an average of 12.1 batters per game. The staff has only allowing 5.21 hits per game which is third in the nation.

On offense, the Commodores are averaging 8 runs a game with 33 homers, 52 doubles and 10 triples. Base runners have swiped 28 of 31 bases. However, the defense has only allowed opponents 9 stolen bases in 18 attempts.

In key series over the past weekend, South Carolina swept a 3-game series at home against Florida. Ole Miss swept a 3-game series at Alabama. Arkansas swept a 3-game series at Mississippi St. Tennessee swept Louisiana St. three straight at home. Arizona won two of three at home against Oregon. U.C. Irvine swept a 4-game series at home against Hawaii.

Poll Notes: Several teams have been red-hot. U.C. Irvine has won 8 straight, Mississippi and Arkansas 7 consecutive, while Texas Tech., Tennessee, San Diego, South Carolina and Texas Christian have each captured 5 in a row.

Four teams fell out of the top 30, including Louisiana St. (lost three straight and five of its last six), Pittsburgh (1-4 last week), Alabama (0-4 last week and 6 straight losses) and Hawaii (0-4 last week and 5 consecutive losses).

New to the poll is South Carolina (won 5 straight), Kentucky (won 4 in a row), Texas Christian (won 5 consecutive) and U.C. Irvine (won 8 straight).

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 29, 2021)
Presented By
www.bigleaguechew.com

Collegiate Baseball’s
National Players Of The Week
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RHP Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt: Leiter has not allowed a hit in his last 16 innings of work. Against Missouri last Friday, he no-hit the Tigers for the first 7 innings before he was pulled. He struck out 10. Leiter pitched a 9-inning no-hitter against South Carolina one week earlier with 16 strikeouts during a 5-0 win. He walked the first batter of the game on a full count and then retired 27 batters in a row. Of his 124 pitches, 81 were strikes. In his last two outings, he has struck out 26 batters in 16 innings.

RF Freddy Rojas, Jr., Texas Rio Grande Valley: Rojas homered in six straight games over the past two weeks which was two shy of the NCAA Div. I record of 8 accomplished twice. He homered in 4 straight games during a series against Dixie State. Then last week, he hit a homer in the first two games of the Dallas Baptist series before the streak finally ended in game three. In those six games, he racked up 12 RBI.

RHP Scott Randall, Sacramento St.: Randall tied the school single-game record with 14 strikeouts over seven innings during a 9-3 win over Dixie State. He was efficient as he threw 69 strikes in 96 pitches.

RHP Nick Durgin, Stetson: Durgin struck out 14 Florida Gulf Coast batters over 8 innings. At one point, he retired 12 consecutive hitters in a row. He closed out his night by striking out the final three batters he faced. The 14 strikeouts were the most in a game for a Stetson pitcher since Mitchell Senger had 16 strikeouts against George Washington in his 2018 no-hitter.

1B Alex Binelas, Louisville: Binelas went 7-for-10 in three games last week with 10 RBI as he hit 2 homers and 2 triples.

OF Chase Keng, Texas-San Antonio: Kent belted 3 home runs and a double with 9 RBI as he was 8-for-15 at the plate. He had a 1.200 slugging percentage on the week.