Mississippi State and Southern Miss, coming off of rough weekends, plunged in the latest D1Baseball rankings while Ole Miss held its position.
Mississippi State (26-10, 7-8 SEC) dropped eight spots to No. 17 after being swept by Tennessee at Dudy Noble Field over the weekend. Brian O’Connor’s club entered the series after having lost all three home matchups to Georgia the weekend prior. Situational hitting has been a concern for the maroon and white of late, as the crew scored a mere four runs total in the final two games versus the Volunteers.
Mississippi State will turn the page to a midweek outing versus Samford in neighboring Birmingham before traveling to South Carolina for another round of SEC action.
Southern Miss (25-11, 8-7 Sun Belt) fell 12 spots to No. 22 in the rankings after losing two of three to a Louisiana club that had dropped its previous three series. Christian Ostrander’s club dominated the first game before the Ragin’ Cajuns slammed the back door to defend their home turf. Saturday pitching continues to be a struggle for the black and gold as Ostrander looks find trustworthy arms to get his team over the top in game two each weekend.
Southern Miss will look to regain footing with a Tuesday matchup versus Ole Miss on the horizon at Trustmark Park on Tuesday before hosting Texas State.
Ole Miss (26-11, 8-7 SEC) , despite sweeping a ranked opponent, did not move in the rankings. Mike Bianco’s club held firmly to its No. 25 spot after dominating then-No. 24 LSU in Oxford. The red and blue outscored the Tigers 26-12 over the weekend and led a balanced attack to win the series.
On the mound, Saturday starter Cade Townsend shone with eight strikeouts in six innings, while Brandon native Walker Hooks effectively closed games one and three. Designated hitter Owen Paino was an offensive force, logging four hits, a home run, and five RBI in the series.
Ole Miss will travel to Tennessee after facing the Golden Eagles in Pearl.
The full top 25 can be found below:
- UCLA
- Georgia Tech
- North Carolina
- Texas
- Georgia
- Oregon State
- Coastal Carolina
- Florida State
- Virginia
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- USC
- Auburn
- Oklahoma
- West Virginia
- Arkansas
- Mississippi State
- Kansas
- Oregon
- Florida
- Central Florida
- Southern Miss
- Arizona State
- Boston College
- Ole Miss