Collegiate Baseball Div. I Poll 3-17-14

SOUTH CAROLINA NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — South Carolina is ranked No. 1 for the third straight week in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Division I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Gamecocks (18-1) were 3-1 last week with a win over Furman and two wins and a loss at home against Mississippi. The lone loss was 6-4. South Carolina’s bullpen has been highly impressive with a scoreless inning streak of 61 1/3 innings. The last run given up by the bullpen was opening day against Bucknell on Feb. 15.

The Gamecock pitching staff leads the Southeastern Conference with a 1.36 ERA and has struck out 167 batters in 172 innings. On offense, South Carolina is hitting .315 with a .396 on-base percentage and a .442 slugging percentage. All three of those marks are the second highest in the SEC. On defense, the Gamecocks have only committed 14 errors over 19 games.

Poll Notes: Several other teams have been red-hot. Oregon St. has won 10 in a row, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisville and Cal. Poly 7 straight, Florida St. and San Diego 6 consecutive while Virginia, UCLA and Rice have won five in a row. In key series over the past weekend, South Carolina took two of three at home from Mississippi, Florida St. swept a 3-game series at home against N.C. State, Vanderbilt took two of three at home against Louisiana St., Kansas took two of three at Texas, Georgia Tech. took two of three at home from Miami (Fla.), Rice swept a 3-game series at Florida International, U.C. Santa Barbara took two of three at home from Wichita St., Alabama took two of three at home from Kentucky and Auburn beat Texas A&M two of three at home.

Five teams fell out of the top 30 this week in Miami, Fla. (1-4 last week), Kentucky (1-3), U.C. Irvine (1-3), Texas Tech. (2-2) and Texas A&M (3-2). New to the poll is San Diego (14-4, won six in a row), Kansas (14-5), Sam Houston St. (16-4, won 6 of last 7), Alabama (12-6, won 8 of last 9) and Auburn (13-7, won 7 of last 8).

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

Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I Poll
(As of March 17, 2014)

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LOUISVILLE SLUGGER NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

• RHP Chris Pike, Oklahoma City: Pike followed up his perfect game from a week ago with a 7-inning no-hitter during an 18-0 win over Southwestern Christian. He struck out 17 batters with one walk. In his last outing, he threw a 7-inning perfect game during a 5-0 win over St. Gregory’s. He struck out 18 batters and became the 20^th pitcher in NAIA history to record a perfect game. At one point, he struck out 14 batters in a row from the second batter of the game through the top of the fifth inning. Over his last two starts, he has struck out 35 batters in 14 innings.

• 1B Nic Wilson, Georgia St.: Wilson hit 5 homers with 15 RBI over 5 games last week as he went 11-for-19. He compiled a 1.421 slugging percentage and a .625 on-base percentage.   

• LHP Heath Dwyer, Virginia Commonwealth: Dwyer struck out 15 batters during a 1-0 win over Buffalo. He went all nine innings for his first complete game of the year and fifth of his career.

• 1B/OF Michael Katz, William & Mary: Katz hit 4 homers, 2 doubles and knocked in 17 runs over five games as he went 10-for-23.

• LHP Matt Imhof, Cal. Poly: Imhof struck out 14 batters over 8 innings during an 8-1 win over Wagner. He allowed 1 run and 3 hits. It marked the second time this season he has struck out 14 batters in a game, one shy of his career high set against Seattle one week ago.

• INF Greg Kaiser, Indiana-Purdue-Ft. Wayne: Kaiser belted 4 home runs in 3 games last week with 6 RBI as he went 5-for-11 at the plate. He recorded a 1.545 slugging percentage and .455 on-base percentage.