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Published Jun 28, 2019
Final 2019 HawgBeat Composite Poll: Top-10 finish for Diamond Hogs
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Andrew Hutchinson  •  HawgBeat
Managing Editor
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@NWAHutch

FAYETTEVILLE -- Despite not winning a game at the College World Series, Arkansas still finished the year as a top-10 team.

The Razorbacks are No. 6 in the final 2019 HawgBeat Composite Poll, which combines the major college baseball rankings.

Individually, D1Baseball, Perfect Game and the USA Today Coaches Poll each had them ranked sixth, while Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA put them at No. 7. Arkansas' lowest ranking was from Baseball American, which tabbed it No. 8 in the country.

Having won its second national championship in school history, Vanderbilt was ranked No. 1 in every poll, meaning it also topped our Composite Poll. Runner-up Michigan was the unanimous No. 2 selection, as well.

Overall, eight SEC teams finished in the top 25, just edging out the ACC (7) for the most of any conference. The Big 12 and Pac-12 had three ranked teams apiece, while the AAC (East Carolina), Big East (Creighton), Big Ten (Michigan) and Big West (UC-Santa Barbara) each had one.

Here are a few other tidbits from the final HawgBeat Composite Poll of 2019...

~Arkansas improved its preseason ranking by 10 spots, which tied Oklahoma State (No. 21 to No. 11) and Georgia Tech (No. 27 to No. 17) for the second largest jump. Only Michigan made a bigger move, improving 21 spots to No. 2.

~Georgia Tech was one of two schools to make the final top 25 after beginning the year in the receiving votes section. The other was ACC foe Duke.

~West Virginia, Miami (Fla.), UC-Santa Barbara, Texas A&M and Creighton went from completely unranked in the preseason to inside the final top 25.

~Florida was the highest ranked team in the Preseason Composite Poll to completely drop out of the final poll. The Gators went from No. 5 to unranked and barely made the NCAA Tournament.

~Six other teams who were ranked in the preseason and not in the final poll: Baylor (No. 15), Clemson (No. 17), Texas (t-No. 18), TCU (No. 20), Coastal Carolina (No. 22) and Cal State-Fullerton (No. 24).

~LSU and defending national champion Oregon State had the biggest drops among teams still in the final top 25. The Tigers went from preseason No. 1 to No. 15 (down 14 spots) and the Beavers fell from No. 6 to a tie for No. 19 (down 13 spots).

~Only two teams are ranked in the same spot as they were in the preseason: No. 4 Texas Tech and No. 25 North Carolina State.

~Arkansas played 26 games against teams in the final HawgBeat Composite Poll. Including the "receiving votes" section, 29 of the Razorbacks' 66 games (43.9 percent) were against teams that finished in the top 25 of at least one major college baseball poll.

Here is a rundown of the entire composite poll, complete with each team's movement from the preseason (SEC teams in bold, Arkansas opponents in italics):

Final 2019 HawgBeat Composite Poll
Receiving votes: Fresno State (7), Central Michigan (4), Baylor (3.5), Indiana State (3), Tennessee (3), Dallas Baptist (2)
RankingPointsChange from Preseason

1. Vanderbilt

150

+1

2. Michigan

144

+21

3 . Louisville

137

+6

4. Texas Tech

130

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5. Mississippi State

129

+9

6. Arkansas

116

+10

7. Florida State

114

+3

8. UCLA

110

-5

9. Auburn

104

+9

10. Stanford

96

-2

11. Oklahoma State

89

+10

12. East Carolina

80

+1

13. Ole Miss

75

-2

14. North Carolina

73

-7

15. LSU

66

-14

16. Georgia

60

-4

17. Georgia Tech

55

+10 (RV)

18. Duke

53

+8 (RV)

t-19. West Virginia

26

N/A (unranked)

t-19. Oregon State

26

-13

t-21. Miami (Fla.)

24

N/A (unranked)

t-21. UC-Santa Barbara

24

N/A (unranked)

23. Texas A&M

22

N/A (unranked)

24. Creighton

13.5

N/A (unranked)

25. North Carolina State

11

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