College Top 25: April 15

Patrick Ebert

Mike Rooney

Photo: Tyler Fitzgerald (Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics)

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For the most part, at least relative to previous weeks to this point of the season, it was a rough week for ranked teams. Thirteen of the 25 teams lost their weekend series and eight teams lost midweek contests. Two teams ended up getting removed from the Top 25 with two new teams taking their place. The middle of the rankings were especially difficult to sort through as 10 of the teams ranked from the Nos. 8-19 positions from a week ago had losing weeks, making it more challenging to move teams up and down.

Making a big move up is Louisville, a team that was one week removed from a series loss at Clemson. The Cardinals were profiled in our weekend preview as a team that needed to make a statement for their own postseason resume and they did just that, and then some. The bats particularly came to life, out-scoring NC State 34-15.

The other team enjoy a big jump is UC Santa Barbara, a team that swept Big West foe UC Irvine over the weekend and moved to 27-5 in the process. The Gauchos also won their midweek contest over a solid Pepperdine team, giving them a 4-0 week as they move into the Top 10 at the No. 9 position.

Texas A&M also moves into the Top 10 (No. 8) after beating Auburn. With a tie to their credit, the 9-5 Aggies are one-half game behind 10-5 Mississippi State in the SEC West standings and one-half ahead of 9-6 Arkansas, Ole Miss and LSU, who are all bundled together from 10-12 in the toughest division in all of college baseball.

With Georgia falling to Tennessee, Mississippi State reclaims the No. 2 position after becoming the first team to reach 30 wins. They swept Alabama, went 4-0 on the week and now sit with the best record in all of college baseball at 31-6. UCLA remains in the top spot with a convincing series sweep over East Carolina, not to mention a midweek win over UC Irvine, further strengthening their No. 1 position in the RPI rankings as well as they continue to show their dominance.

For the third time this year Clemson has been removed from the Top 25. Their on-and-off ways make them a very difficult team to gauge as they show a completely different product from one week to the next. This week they were swept by a Florida State team that appeared to be reeling and will look for their next opportunity to jump back in.

Coastal Carolina also was removed from the Top 25 this week after losing their second Sun Belt series in three weeks. The Chanticleers have also lost nine of their last 14 games and will have a difficult time forcing their way back into the rankings between now and the end of the regular season.

New to the rankings are West Virginia and Tennessee. Not only do both teams have impressive RPI figures (No. 12 and 8, respectively), they also added big series wins to their postseason resumes over the weekend. For the third weekend in a row WVU took down a significant Big 12 opponent, beating Texas Tech after defeating Oklahoma State and Oklahoma the previous two. Tennessee took down previously second-ranked Georgia, and while their 6-9 SEC record isn't very compelling, their sheer win total (26-11) is and they deserve a chance to prove they belong.

Be sure to tune in to Perfect Game College Baseball on SiriusXM channel 84 ESPNU Radio on Monday nights from 9-11 p.m. ET as co-hosts Daron Sutton and Mike Rooney recap the week while looking ahead to what's next. Immediately following the show stay tuned for Perfect Game College Softball, a one-hour program hosted by Sutton and Amanda Freed. Learn more about both programs here.

Also considered: Missouri, Miami, Florida, Indiana, Baylor.

Rk	Prev		Record	Week
1	1	UCLA	27-6	4-0
2	5	Mississippi State	31-6	4-0
3	3	Oregon State	25-8-1	2-2
4	6	Stanford	24-5	4-0
5	2	Georgia	29-8	2-2
6	7	Vanderbilt	27-9	3-1
7	4	NC State	29-8	0-4
8	13	Texas A&M	27-10-1	2-2
9	16	UC Santa Barbara	27-5	4-0
10	8	Louisiana State	24-13	1-3
11	10	Mississippi	25-12	2-2
12	11	Arkansas	26-10	2-2
13	22	Louisville	28-8	4-0
14	21	North Carolina	27-10	4-1
15	9	East Carolina	25-10	1-3
16	12	Texas Tech	23-11	2-2
17	20	Georgia Tech	24-12	2-2
18	25	Connecticut	23-13	4-1
19	14	Texas	23-15	2-2
20	17	Arizona State	27-7	1-3
21	23	TCU	22-12	2-2
22	18	Auburn	24-12	1-3
23	15	UC Irvine	21-9	0-4
24	NR	West Virginia	22-13	3-1
25	NR	Tennessee	26-11	3-1