College Baseball Poll - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Monday (March 8, 1999)
RICE UNIVERSITY NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER (www.baseballnews.com) POLL
TUCSON, Ariz. — Rice University has been ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball newspaper's latest NCAA Division I baseball poll. The Owls (20-3) have won seven straight. The No. 1 ranking marks the first time in Rice University history the Owls have been at the top of any sports poll. Florida St., ranked No. 1 for the prior three weeks, slipped to second after posting a 2-1 record last week. The Seminoles only loss was 8-1 to 16th ranked Wichita St. One of the more amazing stats for Rice this season is that 11 different players have hit home runs, even though the Owls have hit only 24 in 23 games.
POLL NOTES: Several teams have been red-hot. Florida International has won its first 20 games of the year, including a victory over highly regarded Miami, Fla. earlier this season. It is the longest winning streak in the nation. Others with noted winning streaks include North Carolina (12-0), Georgia Tech. (11 straight), North Carolina St. (11 consecutive), Auburn (10 in a row), and Mississippi St. (10 straight). Five teams fell out of the rankings, including Houston (0-4 last week), Clemson (1-3), Georgia (2-3), Arkansas (1-3) and UCLA (2-2).
The "Collegiate Baseball" Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.
(Top 30 Agate Follows)
NCAA Div. I Poll (As of March 8, 1999) |
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| Rank School (Record) | Points | Previous |
| 1. Rice (20-3) | 482 | 2 |
| 2. Florida St. (16-3) | 479 | 1 |
| 3. Auburn (18-2) | 475 | 5 |
| 4. Stanford (15-6) | 472 | 4 |
| 5. Florida (10-4) | 469 | 6 |
| 6. Texas A&M (15-3) | 467 | 7 |
| 7. Fla. International (20-0) | 466 | 13 |
| 8. Miami, Fla. (14-5) | 464 | 3 |
| 9. Louisiana St. (12-3) | 463 | 8 |
| 10. Texas (15-6) | 462 | 10 |
| 11. Georgia Tech. (13-4) | 460 | 12 |
| 12. North Carolina (12-0) | 457 | 14 |
| 13. Pepperdine (17-1) | 454 | 19 |
| 14. Alabama (12-4) | 451 | 15 |
| 15. Cal. St. Fullerton (14-5) | 450 | 16 |
| 16. Wichita St. (11-5) | 448 | 17 |
| 17. Arizona St. (19-8) | 445 | 9 |
| 18. Mississippi St. (13-1) | 443 | 20 |
| 19. North Carolina St. (14-1) | 440 | 22 |
| 20. Long Beach St. (8-6) | 437 | 11 |
| 21. Texas Tech. (16-5) | 436 | 18 |
| 22. Baylor (15-5) | 433 | 21 |
| 23. South Carolina (12-3) | 432 | 24 |
| 24. Florida Atlantic (15-1) | 429 | — |
| 25. Illinois (4-1) | 425 | — |
| 26. Nevada (14-6) | 420 | — |
| 27. Washington (8-4) | 416 | — |
| 28. Hawaii (15-6) | 412 | 26 |
| 29. Oklahoma St. (11-6) | 406 | 23 |
| 30. Tulane (11-5) | 402 | — |
"LOUISVILLE SLUGGER'S" NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
RHP Jason Young, Stanford: Young struck out 16 Arizona State batters and threw a complete game 6-hitter in an 11-1 victory over the Sun Devils. He carried a shutout into the ninth and ended up just two strikeouts shy of Steve Dunning's single-game record of 18 (set on two occasions against Southern California). Young is now 5-1 on the season with a 2.04 ERA and has thrown four straight complete games.
2B Nate Rewers, Richmond: Rewers belted 5 home runs in five games last week with 12 RBI and 12 runs scored. He had a .826 on-base percentage (7 walks, one HBP to go along with 11 hits in 15 at bats). His slugging percentage for the week was 1.800. He also handled 25 chances flawlessly at second base.
RHP Chris Bootcheck, Auburn: Bootcheck tied an Auburn single-game record with 15 strikeouts against West Virginia. Only three other pitchers in Auburn history have struck out 15 batters in a game. He struck out the side in the fourth inning and struck out five of the six batters he faced in the third and fourth innings. He gave up only five hits in eight innings during the 13-4 win over West Virginia.