Collegiate Baseball Div 1 Poll (5-3-21)

ARKANSAS NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL 

TUCSON, Ariz. — Arkansas (34-8) is ranked No. 1 for the seventh time this season in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Division I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Razorbacks took two of three at Louisiana St. over the past weekend and are in first place in the western division of the Southeastern Conference with a 15-6 record.

Arkansas leads the nation with 76 homers in 42 games and have also hit 62 doubles and 10 triples with an average of 8.2 runs per game. These highly disciplined hitters have also walked 251 times (6 per game) and been hit by pitches 51 times for a team on-base percentage of .401.

Defensively, the Hogs are fielding at a .980 clip with 31 errors in 42 games and have turned 34 double plays. The pitching staff has struck out 423 batters with 158 walks.

In key series across the nation, Florida took two of three from Vanderbilt at home, Texas Tech. beat Texas two of three on the road, Mississippi swept a 3-game series at home against South Carolina, Louisville lost three straight at Clemson, Notre Dame swept a 3-game series against North Carolina at home, Oklahoma St. lost two of three against Oklahoma, UCLA took two of three at home against Oregon St. and Old Dominion took three of four against Charlotte at home.

Five teams fell out of the top 30 this week in Georgia (1-3 last week), Nebraska (0-3), Oregon St. (3-2), Charlotte (2-3) and South Alabama (1-2). New to the poll is Louisiana Tech. (32-11, 4 wins in a row, tied for first in Conference USA at 18-6), Gonzaga (27-13, 6 straight wins, tied for first in the West Coast Conference at 14-4), Clemson (21-18, 6 consecutive wins), Old Dominion (31-11, 74 home runs to rank second in the USA) and Central Michigan (28-11, 8 wins in a row, first in the Mid-American Conference at 20-4).

Poll Notes: Several teams have been red-hot. Arizona has won 9 in a row, Tulane 13 of 14, TCU 11 of 12, Florida 10 of 12, Central Michigan 8 straight, while Notre Dame, Gonzaga and Clemson have won 6 consecutive.

Pittsburgh, 20-11 and in first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division with a 14-10 record, has been unable to play its last seven games because of COVID-19.

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 May 3, 2021)
Presented By
www.bigleaguechew.com

Collegiate Baseball’s
National Players Of The Week
Powered By
www.diamond-sports.com

LHP Tyler Burnham, Seton Hall: Burnham tossed the fifth no-hitter in Seton Hall history during a 2-0, 9-inning win over Georgetown. He struck out a career-high 14 batters on 128 pitches.

RHP Carlos Tavera, Texas-Arlington: For the first time in 38 years, Texas-Arlington threw a no-hitter as Carlos Tavera and Tanner King combined to throw an 11-inning no-no against Little Rock in a 1-0 win. Tavera threw the first 9 innings and allowed no hits and struck out 11 on 132 pitches. King went the final two innings without allowing a hit with 3 strikeouts. UT-Arlington used a walk-off sacrifice fly from Connor Aube to win the game, 1-0 in the bottom of the 11^th.

1B Bobby Seymour, Wake Forest: Seymour belted 6 home runs over 4 games with 2 doubles and 11 RBI as he went 10-for-17 at the plate with 10 runs scored. He also walked 3 times.

DH Ethan Long, Arizona St.: Long recorded 5 home runs over 4 games last week as he went 9-for-18 at the plate. He also hit 2 doubles, scored 6 runs and had 14 RBI as he had a 1.444 slugging percentage.

RHP Michael McGreevy, U.C. Santa Barbara: McGreevy fanned a career-high 15 Cal Poly batters in 8 innings of work. He allowed only 2 hits and no walks.

DH/C Chris Ceballos, Kansas St.: Ceballos belted 4 home runs with 2 doubles and 15 RBI last week in 4 games as he scored 6 runs and went 7-for-13 at the plate.

RHP Conor Grady, Florida St.: Grady struck out 13 Troy batters in 5 innings of work during a 4-2 win by the Seminoles. He didn’t walk a batter.

DH Caden Grice, Clemson: In three games against Louisville, Grice went 9-for-13 with 4 home runs, 1 double, 12 RBI and 7 runs scored. He had a slugging percentage of 1.692 and reached base in 12 of his 16 plate appearances as he also walked twice and was hit by a pitch. In the first game of the series, Grice tied a school record with 3 home runs and compiled 8 RBI.

CF Tyler McDonough, N.C. State: McDonough hit 4 homers with 8 RBI over 4 games as he went 9-for-20 with 7 runs scored.

RHP Braden Olthoff, Tulane: Olthoff had a dominating performance against Houston as he struck out 12 Cougar batters in 8 innings of work and allowed no runs and zero walks.

DH Dustin Demeter, Hawaii: Demeter went 11-for-19 at the plate over 4 games and hit 3 homers, 4 doubles and recorded 14 RBI against Cal. St. Fullerton. He recorded 6 RBI in the third and fourth games of the series and became the first Hawaii player since 2019 to compile that many RBI in a game.