FLORIDA NO. 1 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL

TUCSON, Ariz. — Florida (25-5) is ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Div. I baseball poll presented by Big League Chew bubble gum.

The Gators, winners of six straight, are on top of the Collegiate Baseball poll for the third time this season after going 4-0 last week with all four wins coming against top 10 teams at the time of the games (one against Florida St. and three straight against Vanderbilt).

Florida’s sweep of Vanderbilt was the first time the Commodores have been swept in an SEC series since 2012 — 59 consecutive league series. Florida outscored Vanderbilt 26-8 in the 3-game set.

Oregon St., which had been ranked No. 1 for the previous five polls, slipped to third after losing two of three at Utah.

In key series over the past weekend, Stanford took two of three at home against Oregon, UCLA lost two of three at California, N.C. State won two of three at Virginia Tech., Mississippi won two of three at home against Arkansas, Clemson swept three at home against Boston College, Florida St. won two of three at home against Louisville, Duke won three straight at home against Notre Dame, Missouri won two of three at Auburn, East Carolina won two of three at home against Wichita St., LSU won two of three at home against Mississippi St., Southern Mississippi won two of three at home against Rice and Georgia won two of three at home against Texas A&M.

Poll Notes: Several teams are red-hot. Florida Gulf Cast has won 9 straight, Georgia has won 9 of 10 and is tied with Florida for first place in the SEC East Division with a 7-2 league record. Duke and Missouri St. have won 8 of their last 9 while Florida has won six straight.

Six teams fell out of the top 30 this week in Kentucky (2-2 last week, 3-6 in the SEC East), San Diego St. (2-2), Nevada-Las Vegas (2-2), Texas A&M (2-2), Texas Christian (0-3) and Houston (1-3). New to the poll is Oklahoma (20-10), Nevada (15-9), Missouri St. (19-7), Florida Gulf Coast (22-5), Sam Houston St. (20-7) and North Carolina (18-10).

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 2, 2018)

Rank Team (Record) Points PVS 1. Florida (25-5) 495 3 2. Stanford (20-3) 493 2 3. Oregon St. (21-4) 490 1 4. N.C. State (23-5) 488 6 5. Mississippi (25-4) 487 7 6. Clemson (22-6) 485 8 7. Duke (24-5) 482 13 8. Georgia (21-7) 480 23 9. Florida St. (22-7) 478 9 10. UCLA (16-7) 475 5 11. Louisville (19-8) 472 10 12. Texas Tech. (23-6) 470 11 13. Indiana (20-5) 468 17 14. Arkansas (19-9) 465 14 15. Illinois (17-7) 463 12 16. Stetson (23-5) 461 25 17. Vanderbilt (17-11) 460 4 18. East Carolina (20-6) 457 28 19. Oklahoma (20-10) 455 — 20. Nevada (15-9) 452 — 21. Louisiana St. (18-11) 451 19 22. Florida Gulf Coast (22-5) 449 — 23. Missouri (21-7) 447 22 24. Missouri St. (19-7) 442 — 25. Auburn (22-7) 440 16 26. Sam Houston St. (20-7) 439 — 27. Coastal Carolina (21-9) 437 20 28. Wichita St. (19-6) 434 18 29. Southern Mississippi (19-7) 430 21 30. North Carolina (18-10) 427 —

Collegiate Baseball’s

National Players Of The Week

RHP Colton Eastman, Cal. St. Fullerton: Eastman tossed the fifth no-hitter in Cal. St. Fullerton history during a 3-0 win over U.C. Santa Barbara. He recorded 9 shutout innings while striking out 7 and walking 1. What makes the feat even more special is that Eastman had never pitched more than 7 innings before with the Titans. The no-no marked the 17th no-hitter in NCAA Div. I baseball this season which breaks the all-time record for no-hitters in a single season set in 2013.

RHP Noah Song, Navy: Song struck out 15 Lafayette batters during a 6-0 win. He faced just 2 over the minimum as he worked 7 innings and gave up 1 hit and 1 walk. The 15 strikeouts are the second-most in his career and only trail the 16 strikeout performance he tallied against Air Force earlier this season. Song struck out two or more batters in each of the first six innings.

1B Bren Spillane, Illinois: Spillane belted 5 home runs in 4 games with 1 double as he went 8-for-11 at the plate with 9 runs, 7 RBI and 6 walks. In the final game of a 3-game series with Iowa, the Hawkeyes pitched around him as he walked a career-high 4 times.

1B/OF Seth Beer, Clemson: Beer went 8-for-13 with 4 homers, 12 RBI, 7 runs and 4 walks over 4 games. He hit a home run in each of the 4 games.

RHP Nick Sandlin, Southern Mississippi: Sandlin fanned 13 Rice batters in 8 innings as he only allowed 2 hits and 1 unearned run. He now has 73 strikeouts on the season and has allowed just 6 walks.

RHP Dalton Wilder, Alabama St.: Wilder struck out a career-high 13 batters over 8 2/3 innings during a 2-0 win over Mississippi Valley St. At one point, he sat down 20 consecutive hitters and had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning before giving up a hit. He surrendered 2 hits in the contest.

RHP Kyle Brnovich, Elon: Brnovich struck out a season-high 14 batters over 7 1/3 innings in Elon’s 7-3 win over Charleston. He ranks second nationally with 75 strikeouts and improved his record to 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA.