HawgBeat Composite Poll: Arkansas cracks top 15
FAYETTEVILLE -- A volatile week across college baseball led to a massive shakeup in the latest HawgBeat Composite Poll and Arkansas is a beneficiary.
The Razorbacks moved up two spots to No. 14 after winning a midweek game against Memphis and sweeping Stony Brook over the weekend to improve to 9-1 on the season.
In its first rankings update since the preseason, the USA Today Coaches Poll actually has Arkansas at No. 10 in the country, up two spots. Perfect Game (No. 12), D1Baseball (No. 15) and Baseball America (No. 16) each moved the Razorbacks up one spot, while they actually fell a spot to No. 14 in the NCBWA's poll.
With the coaches poll getting back into the mix, HawgBeat has decided to drop the wildly inconsistent Collegiate Baseball rankings from the composite poll.
Nationally, Vanderbilt is the new No. 1 team after LSU was swept by Texas over the weekend. That led to a 13-spot jump for the Longhorns and nine-spot drop for the Tigers, who are now No. 9 and No. 10, respectively.
Also of note, the SEC now has an incredible 11 teams in the top 25. In addition to the eight who were already ranked, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Tennessee have moved into the composite poll.
That means seven of Arkansas' 10 conference opponents are ranked. Throw in two midweek games against Texas and the Razorbacks play 23 of their 55 regular-season games against top-25 teams.
Here is a rundown of the composite poll, complete with their movement from last week and their highest and lowest ranking of 2019 so far (SEC teams in bold, Arkansas opponents in italics):
| Ranking | Points | Change | High/Low |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1.Vanderbilt |
124 |
+1 |
1/2 |
|
2. UCLA |
116 |
+1 |
2/3 |
|
3. Oregon State |
114 |
+1 |
3/6 |
|
4. North Carolina |
113 |
-- |
4/7 |
|
5. Stanford |
105 |
+3 |
5/8 |
|
6. Florida |
100 |
+1 |
5/7 |
|
7. Mississippi St. |
94 |
+5 |
7/14 |
|
8. Florida State |
85 |
+1 |
8/10 |
|
9. Texas |
79 |
+13 |
9/22 |
|
10. LSU |
75 |
-9 |
1/10 |
|
11. Louisville |
72 |
-1 |
9/11 |
|
t-12. Texas Tech |
71 |
-8 |
4/12 |
|
t-12. Ole Miss |
71 |
+1 |
11/13 |
|
14. Arkansas |
63 |
+2 |
14/16 |
|
15. Georgia |
59 |
-4 |
11/15 |
|
16. Auburn |
43 |
+5 |
16/21 |
|
17. Michigan |
42 |
+2 |
17/23 |
|
18. C. Carolina |
40 |
-- |
18/22 |
|
19. East Carolina |
38 |
-4 |
13/19 |
|
20. N.C. State |
31 |
+3 |
20/RV |
|
21. Baylor |
19 |
-7 |
14/21 |
|
22. Texas A&M |
18 |
+7 |
22/NR |
|
t-23. S. Carolina |
10 |
N/A |
23/NR |
|
t-23. Tennessee |
10 |
N/A |
23/NR |
|
25. TCU |
9 |
-5 |
17/25 |