Collegiate Baseball Div. I Poll 4-14-14

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Louisiana-Lafayette is ranked No. 1 in the latest Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Ragin’ Cauns, ranked No. 1 three of the last four weeks, have won four straight and 10 of their last 11. Louisiana has belted 46 homers, 91 doubles and 22 triples in 38 games. The Cajuns are averaging 8.4 runs per game and hitting .327 as a team with 64 stolen bases in 89 attempts while limiting opponents to only 19 in 33 attempts. The pitching staff has a superb 3.08 ERA.    

Poll Notes: Several other teams have been red-hot. Miami (Fla.) has won 12 straight and is now tied with Virginia and Florida St. for first in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 14-4 record. Cal. Poly has won six in a row and 12 of its last 13, Oklahoma St. 9 of its last 10, Texas 14 of its last 16 while Louisville and Oregon have won five consecutive.

In key series over the past weekend, Georgia Tech. took two of three at home against Florida St., Virginia beat Clemson two of three at home, Florida beat South Carolina two of three on the road, Texas swept a 3-game series at Oklahoma, Alabama won two of three at home against Auburn, Louisville swept a 3-game series at Houston, U.C. Santa Barbara won two of three at home against Cal. St. Fullerton, LSU won two of three at home against Arkansas and Mississippi won two of three at Mississippi St.

Four teams fell out of the top 30 in Kentucky (1-3 last week), Clemson (1-4), Oklahoma (0-4), and UCLA (1-3). New to the poll is Oklahoma St., U.C. Irvine, Georgia Tech. and UNLV.

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 April 14, 2014)

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LOUISVILLE SLUGGER NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

• RHP Jordan Carter, Saint Joseph’s: Carter tied a school record with 15 strikeouts as he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning during a 17-1 win over Fordham. He gave up 3 hits in eight innings and didn’t walk a batter.   

• OF Chris Knott, East Stroudsburg: Knott belted 4 home runs during a doubleheader against Mansfield as he collected 9 RBI. He went 8-for-16 at the plate and also scored 8 runs. He is the first ESU player with multiple home runs during a doubleheader since at least 2003.

• RHP Aaron Nola, Louisiana St.: Nola struck out a career-high 13 Arkansas batters in 7 innings as he improved to 7-1 on the season with a 0.70 ERA over 64 innings of work.

• CF Stephen Bull, Maryland Eastern Shore: Bull was 15-for-22 at the plate during five games last week. At one point, he collected 10 consecutive hits (all singles). Bull currently is riding a 19-game hitting streak.  

• RHP Heath Bowers, Campbell: Bowers struck out a career-high 13 batters over eight innings in leading Campbell to a 7-1 win over N.C. Asheville. His 13 strikeouts were one shy of the school single-game record.