Eight for Omaha - Louisville Shakes Up the Week 3 College World Series Ranks

This Week’s Eight for Omaha saw some movement among our eight prospective College World Series squads with a new team entering the fold.

The Big 12 made a statement this week while the SEC struggled. TCU holds their place at the top, but there was plenty of movement within the ranks. NC State falls out of our eight this week after a 2-4 start to March.

As of March 6, here are the current top 10 according to the latest D1 Baseball rankings:

TCU
Florida
Florida State
Oregon State
Louisville
Texas Tech
LSU
South Carolina
Arizona
Virginia

Eight for Omaha – Week 3 Edition

1. Texas Christian (Last Week No. 1, 10-1)

Late on Saturday night it looked like the Horned Frogs might be mortal. Freshman starter Nick Lodolo had surrendered five runs in two thirds of an inning and TCU trailed Texas A&M by five runs in the ninth inning. More than an hour later TCU left Minute Maid Park, 11-10 victors in 15 innings. The composure and depth of coach Jim Schlossnagle’s staff was impressive. They’re a shoe in for the top spot until something drastic changes.

2. Florida (Last Week No. 4, 10-4)

The Gators kept on churning this week. They split a pair of midweek games with a good UCF club and swept Columbia over the weekend. They fell to FGCU on Tuesday after a ninth inning rally fell just short. Despite a few bumps along the way, Florida has a 2.70 team ERA. The bats could do a bit more to help, highlighted by the struggles of Jonathan India, but they still have some time before they get into the heart of conference play.

3. LSU (Last Week No. 2, 9-4)

Yes, LSU lost two of three at the Shriners College Classic in Houston. But the their two losses came to teams on this list. If the Tigers can hang with those squads that’s proof in itself that they’re Omaha materials. LSU’s youth showed over the weekend and in a midweek loss to McNeese State, but their weekend pitching is superb.

4. Oregon State (Last Week No. 5, 10-1)

Five teams in the D1 Baseball top 25 have one loss or fewer. Oregon State is one of those teams, and the Beavers keep winning games handily. The Beavers swept UC Davis behind a dominant bullpen. For the season the Oregon State bullpen has allowed two earned runs. 11 games. 2 earned runs. To say they have shut down stuff would be an understatement.

5. Florida State (Last Week No. 6, 11-2)

Since dropping their opening day contest Florida State is 11-1. The Seminoles swept Miami and dispatched of Oakland 18-10, 12-1, and 14-6. The ACC plays some good baseball, but until we get to conference play there’s no reason to doubt the Seminoles. They’ll face their first ACC opponent this weekend when Boston College visits Tallahassee.

6. Louisville (Last Week UR, 12-0)

Boy, oh boy, the last week of the season could be fun. That’s when the Louisville Cardinals take on Florida State. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but we’d be remiss not to bring Louisville into this week’s Eight for Omaha. Lousiville came into the weekend 12-0 and have outscored their opponents 125 to 29. Their offense is averaging more than 10 runs per game. Wow.

7. Texas Tech (Last Week No. 8, 12-2)

The Red Raiders had an off day against Brigham Hill and the Aggies, but that’s going to happen to a lot of good ballclubs this season. Since dropping that Friday contest Texas Tech has beaten Ole Miss, LSU, and Arizona. They are going to be just fine. This weekend is a get-right series against UTSA before starting conference play on the road against Texas.

8. North Carolina (Last Week No. 3, 10-3)

The Tar Heels tumbled this week after losing a midweek game to St. Johns and proceeding to drop a series to Long Beach State. I’m not counting out North Carolina until I see how they respond to their first taste of adversity. Since dropping three straight they’ve won a pair of games against Long Beach and VCU. A tough series against Virgina this weekend should tell us a lot about this team.

Next: Series Preview - Aggies vs Brown

Where are the Aggies?

The Aggies would probably have catapulted themselves into this list had they managed to avoid two ninth inning collapses in Houston. Instead they allowed two five run comebacks and find themselves a few steps back of the leaders. This weekend they’ll face an 0-3 Brown team. Then they’re on to play Texas and then the SEC. There is plenty of time for them to prove themselves, but they aren’t quite in the upper tier just yet.

***Stats and Rankings from D1 Baseball and team websites***

Eight for Omaha – Louisville Shakes Up the Week 3 Ranks

By Matthew Bartlett | Mar 10, 2017