Southern Miss cracked the top 10, Ole Miss surged, and Mississippi State dipped in the latest D1Baseball rankings.
The Golden Eagles (37-14, 19-8 Sun Belt) jumped four spots to No. 8 after earning a second consecutive sweep. Christian Ostrander’s club was red-hot offensively against James Madison this past weekend, logging a whopping 35 hits and scoring an average of just under 10 runs per game.
Southern Miss will conclude the regular season at home versus Georgia Southern with the series beginning Thursday night.
The Rebels (34-18, 14-13 SEC) jumped five spots to No. 15 after ending a cold snap against ranked conference opponents. After falling in back-to-back weekends, Ole Miss broke through and took two of three versus top-10 Texas A&M in Oxford. Though Mike Bianco’s club was outscored 26-16 over the weekend, Taylor Rabe’s 14 strikeouts in the rubber match proved fruitful in getting the series win.
Ole Miss is scheduled to play Tennessee-Martin on Tuesday before traveling to No. 19 Alabama on Thursday, but the midweek game may be in jeopardy as the Rebels look to preserve their RPI for postseason seeding purposes.
The Bulldogs (38-14, 15-12 SEC) dropped two spots, landing at No. 13 after losing two of three versus one of the nation’s hottest clubs. After winning game one against Auburn in Starkville, Brian O’Connor’s club was back-doored as the now-No. 5 Tigers ended the rubber match with a 10-run rule victory.
Mississippi State will end the regular season at Texas A&M with the series beginning Thursday night.
The full top 25 can be found below:
- UCLA
- North Carolina
- Georgia Tech
- Georgia
- Auburn
- Texas
- Oregon State
- Southern Miss
- West Virginia
- Texas A&M
- Florida State
- Arkansas
- Mississippi State
- Kansas
- Ole Miss
- Oregon
- USC
- Alabama
- Florida
- Coastal Carolina
- Oklahoma State
- Arizona State
- Boston College
- Nebraska
- Cincinnati
Postseason outlook
The latest D1Baseball postseason projections, which were released last week, have Mississippi State and Southern Miss hosting an NCAA Tournament regional, while Ole Miss was featured as a No. 2 seed in Hattiesburg. But the next tournament forecast is likely to look a little different. Here’s why:
Ole Miss now has a much clearer path to hosting after having won a series versus a then-top 10 Texas A&M. Getting two wins at Alabama and at least one more in the SEC Tournament would likely secure Oxford as a host. The Rebels currently boast the third-toughest strength of schedule nationally and hold the No. 13 RPI.
Meanwhile, Southern Miss and Mississippi State sit comfortably in hosting conversations, though neither team will be rewarded if they let off the gas now. The Golden Eagles currently boast a top-15 strength of schedule and the No. 9 RPI, while Mississippi State has the No. 8 strength of schedule and No. 12 RPI.