By: Aaron Kirby

Purdue (28-5) remains at #1 for the 3rd consecutive week. The Boilermakers have won 8 games in row including 4-0 this week with 15-2 win at Ball State Wednesday and sweeping Illinois in Big 10 play.

RISING

Gonzaga (25-9) climbs 5spots to #4 after a perfect 5-0 week. The Bulldogs bounced back from dropping the San Diego series last week and swept two mid week games at Washington by scores of 6-4 and 8-5 before sweeping Santa Clara in West Coast Conference play.

Missouri St (27-10) gets back into the top 10 at #6 with a 3-0 week. The Bears shutout Kansas St Wednesday 3-0 and won both MVC games vs Illinois St on weekend. Sunday’s final game with Illinois St was canceled due to rain.

TCU (20-13) also gets back in the top 10, moving up 5 spots to #7. The Horned Frogs beat UT-Arlington 5-1 Wednesday and swept Air Force for a nice little 6 game win streak.

SE Louisiana (25-11) roller coaster ride continued in week 9. The Lions hosted Texas St and held them to just 3 runs the entire weekend (Winning Friday 10-1, Saturday 8-1, and Sunday 6-1). The Lions move up 4 spots to #17.

FALLING

Louisville (25-11) drops 3 spots to #8. After starting the week with a very impressive 12-0 win at Kentucky Tuesday the Cardinals hosted Seton Hall in Big East play. Seton Hall won the opener 3-2, Louisville won 2nd game 12-7 and Seton Hall won the series with a 9-4 win at Louisville on Sunday.

Stetson (23-12) fall 5 spots to #11. The Hatters went 2-2 on the week, beating South Florida 6-4 Tuesday and losing 2 of 3 at Kennesaw St in A-Sun play.

Texas St (20-15) tumble 10 spots to #12 after getting swept at SE Louisiana. The Bobcats find themselves in big trouble in the Southland and in the At-Large picture after going 0-3 on weekend, dropped them to a tie for 7th place in Southland at 8-10.

Appalachian St (25-9) slides down 9 spots to #16 after a 1-3 week. The Mountaineers week started with a 6-3 loss at Gardner Webb where they gave up 4 runs in 8th to lose. On the weekend the Mountaineers traveled to Georgia Southern in Southern Conference play and lost 2 of 3. They won Friday night 5-1, lost 13-3 Saturday and 7-6 on Sunday.

Belmont (25-13) falls 5 places to #23 with a 2-3 week. The Bruins beat Tennessee Tech 8-1 Tuesday, lost 7-0 at Vanderbilt, and lost 2 of 3 at Mercer in A-Sun play. It took a run in the top of 13th on Sunday for a 7-6 win to salvage one game at Mercer.

DROPPED OUT

#23 Samford (21-15)

#24 Portland (20-10)

#25 Stony Brook (24-10)

IN

Nebraska (25-13) reenters the rankings at #22 after a couple weeks being out. The Cornhuskers went 3-1 on week, beating Creighton 5-3 Tuesday and winning 2 of 3 at Ohio St in Big 10 play.

UT-Arlington (23-14) enters the rankings for first time of year at #24. The Mavericks went 3-2 on the road for week 9 including a 3-2 win at Texas A&M on Tuesday, losing 5-1 at TCU Wednesday, and winning 2 of 3 at Texas San Antonio in SLC play.

Georgia Southern (22-16) gets back in the top 25 at #25 with a 4-1 week. The Eagles beat Kennesaw St 3-2 Tuesday, won 7-6 at Jacksonville Wednesday and won 2 of 3 vs Appalachian St in Southern Conference play. GSU was preseason #6 in Mid-Major Poll but lost 9 of 11 after losing All-American Victor Roache to injury Feb. 25th. On March 27th they won 5-3 at Georgia Tech and since then they have found their stride again winning 11 of 14 including 2 of 3 vs College of Charleston and Appalachian St. Their RPI has dropped 38 spots from #98 to #60 in last 2 weeks according to warrennolan.com

OTHER NOTABLES

Utah Valley (22-11) has the nation’s second longest active win streak at 15 games.

Maine (18-14) has the 3rd longest active win streak at 13.

Wright St (23-11) had a 14 game win streak snapped on Sunday with a 9-7 loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Campbell (30-8) and Liberty (30-9) are both tied for 2nd in nation for most wins behind Kentucky’s 32.

Army (28-9) is 12-0 in Patriot League and 1 of just 6 teams currently still undefeated in conference play in the country. The other 5 are Baylor 15-0 Big 12, Maine 7-0 American East, Utah Valley and Texas Pan-American 8-0 in Great West and San Jose St 3-0 in WAC.

Mid-Major Top 25- Week 9 RNK SCHOOL (REC) PVS (WK) Weeks Results 4/9-4/15 #1 Purdue (28-5) #1 (4-0) 1-0 at Ball St; 3-0 Illinois; #2 Dallas Baptist (24-10) #3 (3-1) 0-1 at Texas Tech; 3-0 Southern Illinois; #3 San Diego (29-8) #4 (4-0 1-0 at San Diego St; 3-0 LaSalle; #4 Gonzaga (25-9) #9 (5-0) 2-0 at Washington; 3-0 Santa Clara; #5 New Mexio St (27-10) #8 (2-1) 2-1 at Sacramento St; #6 Missouri St (27-10) #11 (3-0) 1-0 Kansas St; 2-0 Illinois St; #7 TCU (20-13) #12 (4-0) 1-0 UT Arlington; 3-0 Air Force; #8 Louisville (25-11) #5 (2-2) 1-0 at Kentucky; 1-2 Seton Hall; #9 Sam Houston St (25-10) #13 (2-1) 2-1 at Lamar; #10 Florida Atlantic (24-13) #10 (2-2) 0-1 FGCU; 2-1 at Louisiana Monroe; #11 Stetson (23-12) #6 (2-2) 1-0 South Florida; 1-2 at Kennesaw St; #12 Texas St (20-15) #2 (0-4) 0-1 at Rice; 0-3 at SE Louisiana; #13 College of Charleston (25-12) #14 (3-1) 1-0 Winthrop; 2-1 Samford; #14 Pepperdine (22-14) #16 (3-1) 1-0 at UC Riverside; 2-1 Portland; #15 Liberty (30-9) #15 (3-1) 1-0 James Madison; 2-1 at Winthrop; #16 Appalachian St (25-9) #7 (1-3) 0-1 at Gardner Webb; 1-2 at Georgia Southern; #17 SE Louisiana (25-11) #21 (3-0) 3-0 Texas St; #18 Indiana St (28-9) #17 (2-2) 0-1 at Indiana; 2-1 at Bradley; #19 Coastal Carolina (24-11) #20 (4-1) 0-1 at UNCW; 1-0 The Citadel; 3-0 VMI; #20 Western Carolina (25-11) #22 (3-0) 3-0 Furman; #21 George Mason (25-12) #19 (3-1) 1-0 at Navy; 2-1 at Northeastern; #22 Nebraska (25-13) NR (3-1) 1-0 Creighton; 2-1 at Ohio St; #23 Belmont (25-13) #18 (2-3) 1-0 Tenn Tech; 0-1 at Vanderbilt; 1-2 at Mercer; #24 UT-Arlington (23-14) NR (3-2) 1-0 at Texas A&M; 0-1 at TCU; 2-1 at UTSA; #25 Georgia Southern (22-16) NR (4-1) 1-0 Kennesaw St; 1-0 at Jacksonville; 2-1 App St; dropped out #23 Samford (21-15) #24 Portland (20-10) #25 Stony Brook (24-10)

others receiving votes Florida International (21-14) SC Upstate (25-12) Kennesaw St (22-16) Portland (20-10) Utah Valley (22-11) Mercer (23-15) Campbell (30-8) Stony Brook (24-10) Army (28-9) Wright State (23-11)

Here is the new piece were we look at RPI changes from week to week. Negative is good and positive is bad.

Week 9 RPI Results Rank Team Start End Change #1 Purdue 15 13 -2 #2 Dallas Baptist 44 32 -12 #3 San Diego 29 25 -4 #4 Gonzaga 24 14 -10 #5 New Mexico St 20 21 +1 #6 Missouri St 42 30 -12 #7 TCU 56 43 -13 #8 Louisville 60 52 -8 #9 Sam Houston St 27 35 +8 #10 Florida Atlantic 48 54 +6 #11 Stetson 61 57 -4 #12 Texas St 35 44 +9 #13 College of Charleston 50 45 -5 #14 Pepperdine 31 26 -5 #15 Liberty 65 69 +4 #16 Appalachian St 32 33 +1 #17 SE Louisiana 57 47 -10 #18 Indiana St 51 55 +4 #19 Coastal Carolina 54 56 +2 #20 Western Carolina 75 66 -9 #21 George Mason 49 53 +4 #22 Nebraska 72 68 -4 #23 Belmont 37 46 +9 #24 UT-Arlington 55 59 +4 #25 Georgia Southern 83 60 -23

*RPI’s from warrennolan.com