OREGON ST. NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Oregon St. (20-2, 5-1 Pac-12) is ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Div. I baseball poll for the fifth straight week presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Beavers won two of three at home against Washington. OSU claimed its 14th consecutive Pac-12 Conference series.

Through 22 games, the Beavers are hitting .312 with 73 extra base hits while the pitching staff has a 2.82 ERA with 178 strikeouts and 71 walks. On defense, OSU is fielding at a .977 clip and has only allowed 4 stolen bases in 12 attempts.

Poll Notes: In key series over the weekend, Stanford swept a 3-game series against Southern California, Auburn lost two of three at Kentucky and has now lost four of its last five, Florida won two of three against Arkansas, Vanderbilt won two of three against LSU, UCLA won two of three against Arizona St., N.C. State won two of three against Georgia Tech., Mississippi won two of three against Texas A&M, Clemson won two of three at Louisville, Florida St. won two of three at North Carolina, San Diego St. won two of three at UNLV, East Carolina won two of three at Central Florida, Missouri swept a 3-game series against Mississippi St., Coastal Carolina beat Clemson earlier in the week and then swept three from Texas St. while Georgia won three straight against South Carolina.

Several teams are red-hot. Georgia has won six straight and 11 of its last 12, Illinois has won 14 of its last 16, Houston 8 straight, Coastal Carolina 7 consecutive and Stanford 6 in a row.

Four teams fell out of the top 30 in Central Florida (1-4 last week), Sam Houston St. (1-3), Southeastern Louisiana (2-3) and Texas St. (1-4). New to the poll is San Diego St. (16-7), Texas Christian (14-7), Georgia (18-6) and Houston (16-8).

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 March 26, 2018)

Rank Team (Record) Points PVS 1. Oregon St. (20-2) 495 1 2. Stanford (17-2) 494 2 3. Florida (21-5) 490 4 4. Vanderbilt (17-7) 488 5 5. UCLA (15-5) 487 6 6. N.C. State (20-4) 485 8 7. Mississippi (22-3) 483 9 8. Clemson (18-6) 480 10 9. Florida St. (20-5) 478 12 10. Louisville (18-6) 475 11 11. Texas Tech. (21-5) 472 17 12. Illinois (15-5) 470 22 13. Duke (20-5) 468 23 14. Arkansas (17-7) 465 7 15. Kentucky (17-7) 463 16 16. Auburn (20-5) 462 3 17. Indiana (16-5) 460 14 18. Wichita St. (17-4) 457 26 19. Louisiana St. (16-9) 455 15 20. Coastal Carolina (19-7) 452 27 21. Southern Mississippi (17-5) 449 21 22. Missouri (19-6) 446 25 23. Georgia (18-6) 444 — 24. San Diego St. (16-7) 442 — 25. Stetson (19-5) 441 13 26. Nevada-Las Vegas (20-5) 439 19 27. Texas A&M (19-6) 437 18 28. East Carolina (18-5) 434 29 29. Texas Christian (14-7) 430 — 30. Houston (16-8) 427 —

Collegiate Baseball’s

National Players Of The Week

DH Kevin Strohschein, Tennessee Tech.: Strohschein belted 4 home runs with 10 RBI and scored 7 runs over 4 games as he posted a slugging percentage of 1.235.

RHP Jake Lee, Oakland: Lee tossed a 1-hit complete game with 14 strikeouts during a 2-1 win over Illinois-Chicago. At one point, he retired 13 consecutive batters.

1B Bren Spillane, Illinois: Spillane hit 3 homers, 3 doubles and recorded 10 RBI as he went 9-for-14 at the plate. He also scored 7 runs with 21 total bases. If that wasn’t enough, he walked 5 times and swiped 3 bases as he posted a slugging percentage of 1.500. He reached base at least three times in all four games last week.

RHP John Signore, Fairfield: Signore struck out a career-high 14 batters while issuing only one walk and two hits in eight innings during a 1-0 win at Canisius.

RHP Mitch Janssen, Bradley: Janssen took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before allowing an infield single with two outs against Chicago St. He ended up allowing one unearned run on the lone hit while striking out a career-high 9 over 5 innings.

INF/OF Luke Heyer, Kentucky: Heyer collected 10 RBI as he belted 3 home runs, 2 doubles and scored 5 runs as he went 7-for-14 at the plate and posted a 1.286 slugging percentage. He now has 18 extra-base hits in 23 games for the Wildcats.

LF Jackson Lueck, Florida St.: Lueck hit 3 home runs with 10 RBI in five games (2 against Central Florida and 3 against North Carolina) as he scored 7 runs and went 7-for-19 at the plate.

1B Michael Busch, North Carolina: Busch had 10 RBI with a trio of home runs, 6 runs scored and walked 6 times over four games as he went 7-for-13. In a doubleheader against Florida St., he reached base 10 times. He finished the week with a slugging percentage of 1.308.