Oregon St. Edges Up To #5 In Baseball Poll

After taking the final 2 of 3 games in last weekend's series at Washington St., and having South Carolina lose 2 of 3 to Florida, Oregon St. edged up from #6 to #5 in this week's Baseball America top 25 poll.

Florida St. also lost to Florida, and 2 of 3 to Georgia Tech, but the Seminoles stayed ahead of the Beavers, in 4th place, while Virginia took over the top spot. The 3 wins over top 5 opponents moved the Gators all the way up to #9, from #15.

Washington's winning 2 of 3 against Stanford elevated the Huskies from #9 to #7, and Oregon, who took a pair from Portland, and then swept UC-Riverside, also climbed, going up to #23 from #25.

A perfect week moved Cal-Poly up to #4, and UC-Santa Barbara moved up from #22 to #17, after taking 2 of 3 from Fullerton St., which also dropped the pre-season #1 out of the top 25.

UNLV is the only other team from the west to be ranked, holding steady at #20 after the Rebels took 2 of 3 from Arkansas.

Collegiate Baseball kept Oregon St. at #5 in their poll, and Louisiana-Lafayette at the top. The Ragin Cajuns have won 10 of their last 11, and have the fewest losses, 4, of any team in the country.

Washington moved in on the Beavers, climbing from #8 to #6, and they have Oregon breaking back into their top 10, 2 spots up from last week.

Somehow, UCSB slipped from #14 to #17 despite their series win over the Titans, and they also have Pepperdine in their top 25, at #19, UC-Irvine at #21, and UNLV at #25.

Kendall Rogers' Perfect Game Top 25 also has Virginia at the top, followed by the Ragin Cajuns and Cal-Poly, all of whom moved up 1 spot, all passing Florida St. Rogers also moved Oregon St. up 1 spot, to #5, but the Beavers still trail the Seminoles on his list as well.

Washington moved up from #12 to #10, and Oregon inched up from #16 to #15, with UCSB jumping over the Ducks, climbing from #19 to #14.

UNLV is right behind Oregon on the Perfect Game list, at #16, and Pepperdine has also broken into Rogers' rankings, at #25.

Oregon St.'s highest ranking is in the USA Today Coaches' Assistant Sports Information Directors' poll, where the Beavers received 1 first place vote, and checks in at #3, behind Virginia and Louisiana-Lafayette, and just ahead of the Mustangs, as Cal-Poly also collected a first place vote.

The ASIDs still have Oregon ahead of Washington, at #11 and #13 respectively, but they do finally have UCSB ranked, at #21, for the first time.

The Beavers won't be able to help or hurt their stock this week, taking their entire Pac-12 Conference bye week off for the Easter weekend, but will return to action next Monday and Tuesday, for a pair of games against Sacramento St. in 2 different Sacramento ball parks.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com