Oregon St. Baseball Up To #3

Oregon St.'s sweep of Texas St. coupled with former #3 Mississippi St. losing 2 of 3 to Central Arkansas this past weekend has allowed the Beavers to edge up 1 spot to the third slot in this week's Baseball America Top 25 Poll.

The Beavs are all the way up to #2 in the Collegiate Baseball Writers poll, and gained a slot up to #5 in the Perfect Game poll as well. The USA Today Coaches' Assistant Sports Information Directors has Oregon St. at #4, with 2 first place votes.

Unbeaten North Carolina remains the unanimous #1.

Vanderbilt remained at #2 in the Baseball America poll despite suffering their first loss, because the Commodores took 2 of 3 on the road at PK Park over Oregon. The Ducks dropped only 1 spot, from #15 to #16, despite their 2 losses, as they also took 2 games for Cal St. Northridge.

Cal St. Fullerton is the second highest western school, and moved up from #10 to #8 despite a 3-2 week. The Titans lost to upcoming Oregon St. opponent San Diego, but beat USC, and then took 2 of 3 from Texas A&M.

UCLA edged up from #12 to #11 with wins over Long Beach St., and then former #22 (now #17) Notre Dame, and USC, against a loss to then #17 Oklahoma, with the last 3 games coming in the Dodger Town Classic.

Arizona St. jumped all the way up from #23 to #14 after a sweep of Long Beach St. immediately after the 49ers had upset UCLA.

Arizona, who will host Oregon St. this weekend in the Pac-12 season opening series, held steady at #20, after splitting a pair of games with Texas Tech, and then taking 2 of 3 from Columbia.

Stanford, formerly ranked #13, dropped completely out of the top 25, after the Cardinal got swept by UNLV, which also propelled the Rebels into the rankings, at #21.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com