FLORIDA NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Florida (32-6) is ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Div. I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Gators, winners of 13 of their last 14, are on top of the Collegiate Baseball poll for the fifth time this season. Last week Florida won three straight at home against Missouri and a mid-week game against Florida St. The Gators have now won 8 games in a row against the Seminoles and 13 of the last 14.

Florida has belted 57 home runs in 38 games and 151 extra base hits as the Gators are averaging 7.5 runs per game. The pitching staff has a 2.96 ERA with 340 strikeouts and 113 walks.

In key series over the past weekend, Clemson lost two of three at home to Miami (Fla.), Duke won two games at Florida St. with game three cancelled because of weather.

Stanford swept a 3-game series at home against Arizona St., Arkansas won two of three at home against South Carolina, Oregon St. won two games at Missouri State with game three cancelled because of weather.

Mississippi lost two of three at Vanderbilt, Georgia lost two of three at home to Kentucky, Oklahoma lost two of three at home to Texas, Texas A&M swept the series at home against Alabama and LSU swept three at home against Tennessee.

Poll Notes: Several teams are red-hot. Tennessee Tech. has the nation’s longest winning streak with 20 in a row. It is the best in school history and the longest in the Ohio Valley Conference since 1975. Michigan has won 17 in a row and leads the Big Ten Conference with an 8-0 record. It is the longest winning streak at Michigan since 1988 when the Wolverines won 18 straight.

Five teams fell out of the top 30, including Florida St. (5 straight losses), Missouri St. (0-3 last week), Sam Houston State (2-3), Florida Gulf Coast (1-2) and Wichita State (2-2).

New to the poll is Dallas Baptist (23-10, won 11 of last 12), St. John’s (22-10, won 8 in row), Florida Atlantic (26-9, won 9 of last 10), Arizona (22-12, won 10 of last 12), Minnesota (23-10, 7-1 Big Ten, won 7 in row), and Kentucky (25-11).

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 April 16, 2018)

Rank Team (Record) Points PVS 1. Florida (32-6) 495 1 2. N.C. State (28-7) 493 2 3. Duke (30-7) 490 4 4. UCLA (22-9) 487 5 5. Stanford (27-5) 486 6 6. Arkansas (27-10) 485 7 7. Oregon St. (26-6) 482 8 8. North Carolina (24-12) 480 12 9. Vanderbilt (22-14) 478 20 10. Mississippi (29-8) 475 9 11. Michigan (21-11) 472 16 12. Georgia (25-11) 469 10 13. Clemson (26-10) 468 3 14. Oklahoma (26-13) 465 11 15. Texas Tech. (29-8) 463 14 16. Indiana (26-6) 460 15 17. Illinois (23-8) 459 18 18. Louisiana St. (24-13) 457 23 19. Texas A&M (27-9) 455 22 20. Louisville (24-11) 452 21 21. Tennessee Tech. (29-5) 451 25 Texas (24-14) 451 17 23. East Carolina (26-9) 448 19 24. St. John’s (22-10) 447 — 25. Dallas Baptist (23-10) 444 — 26. Florida Atlantic (26-9) 442 — 27. Arizona (22-12) 440 — 28. Nevada (20-13) 437 28 29. Coastal Carolina (26-12) 435 29 30. Minnesota (23-10) 434 — 31. Kentucky (25-11) 433 —

Collegiate Baseball’s

National Players Of The Week

INF/C Parker Phillips, Austin Peay St.: Phillips belted 5 home runs, 1 triple and 1 double over 5 games last week with 15 RBI as he went 8-for-13 at the plate. He opened the series against Eastern Kentucky with home runs in his first three at-bats (grand slam, solo, 2-run) and finished the game 4-for-5 with 7 RBI. He hit two more homers in game two of the doubleheader as he delivered 5 home runs on the day.

RHP Noah Zavolas, Harvard: Zavolas fired the first no-hitter since 2001 for Harvard during a 4-0 win over Yale. He notched a career-high 12 strikeouts in the 9-inning complete game.

1B Ross Haffey, Miami (Ohio): Haffey delivered 6 home runs with 13 RBI and 9 runs scored as he went 8-for-13 in a 3-game series against Ball St.

RHP Billy Sullivan, Delaware: Sullivan struck out a career-high 16 batters over 7 shutout innings during a 5-1 win over N.C. Wilmington. He struck out the side four times and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base.

2B Ryan Ward, Bryant: Ward went 15-for-28 with 5 doubles, 3 homers, 10 RBI and 9 runs scored over 5 games. He never had fewer than 2 hits in each game and went 4-for-6 in two contests.

RHP Parker Brahms, Sacramento St.: Brahms struck out a career-high 14 batters over 7 innings during a 5-0 win against Northern Colorado. He retired nine straight at one point and 12 of the last 14 batters he faced.

2B Blake Strebler, Westminster: Strebler went 4-for-5 with 4 home runs in game two of a doubleheader against Spalding. His amazing game included a grand slam as he collected 7 RBI in the contest.

RHP Jack Herzing, Penn. St. Behrend: Herzing tied a career-high with 16 strikeouts over 7 innings during a 7-0 win against Alfred St. He only allowed one hit. In the process, he also set a new school career mark of 257 strikeouts.