Hunter Williams and the Green Wave must step up offensively this weekend. (Tulane)

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D1Baseball Top 25 Rankings: March 2

PODCAST: Rogers And Fitt Discuss The Rankings

It was a volatile week in the D1Baseball Top 25 rankings, although the top five teams remained the same. Top-ranked Vanderbilt overcame a 10-0 deficit Sunday to beat Illinois State 16-10 and complete a 5-0 week. The Commodores remain No. 1 heading into this week’s Dodgertown Classic, where they’ll face No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 TCU and undefeated Southern California.

The Horned Frogs and LSU each moved up a spot to No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. Then the rankings got interesting. Oregon leapt 12 spots to No. 8 after going on the road and winning a series against a ranked UC Santa Barbara club. UCF made a similar jump, vaulting from No. 23 to No. 9 after winning two of three from ranked Ole Miss, a week after beating Maryland and Arkansas in a tournament.

Those teams were able to make huge leaps because no team in the 10-19 range markedly improved its stock with a good week against strong competition. Rice held its ground at No. 10 following a four-game series split at home against Stanford—the second split in three weeks for the Owls, who opened with a four-game split against Texas. North Carolina, Maryland, Texas Tech and Texas A&M all stayed put in the 11-14 range, while unbeaten Mississippi State jumped seven spots to No. 15 after a 5-0 week that included two solid wins against Arizona.

Houston fell 10 spots to No. 16 after a 2-3 week that included a pair of losses to cold-weather Columbia, which was playing its first series of the year. Texas also tumbled from No. 9 to No. 18 after going 0-2 against San Diego, which entered the weekend with a 2-6 record.

In a messy week for the rankings, the ascensions of Oregon, UCF and Mississippi State meant drops for Miami, Louisville and Oklahoma State even though all three posted winning weeks. The Hurricanes (8-4) fell four spots after a hard-fought series win against a Northern mid-major (Wright State), which included two comeback wins and a 12-6 loss on Sunday. Louisville also fell four spots after going 2-1 against Xavier.

Ole Miss and UCSB stayed in the rankings after each avoided sweeps and salvaged series finales against ranked opponents.

Florida Atlantic and Tulane joined the rankings at No. 24 and No. 25, replacing Alabama and Illinois. FAU’s resume features solid series wins against Connecticut (which won a series at dangerous Kennesaw State this weekend) and Ohio State, plus a midweek win against Miami. Tulane has quality series wins against 2014 regional teams Pepperdine (on the road) and Creighton, as well as a sweep of San Francisco.

D1Baseball editors Aaron Fitt and Kendall Rogers determined the Top 25 rankings. Records are through games of March 1.