One week ago today, NCAA Division I College Baseball returned in all of its glory with an action-packed weekend that smoothly transitioned into the current week. With LSU at the top of the charts, it was no shocker when the Tigers swept Western Michigan to kick things off in the right direction as the No. 1 ranked team.
On Mardi Gras, LSU defeated Southern with a whomping 18-4 win in seven innings. Tre’ Morgan led the way for his Tigers, going 4-for-5 with eight RBI and hitting for the cycle. Morgan’s cycle was the first since 2011. In addition, he also hit for the cycle in order.
Stanford follows the Tigers at the No. 2 spot, which moved from the third spot after earning the series win 2-1 over Cal State Fullerton. Tennesse, which suffered losses to unranked Arizona and Grand Canyon, moved to third in the D1 Baseball Top 25 Rankings.
Other than TCU surprising everyone and moving from No. 15 to No. 8 and Oklahoma State, which went 1-2, dropped to No. 15 after allowing 29 runs in its final two games. D1’s Top 25 remains the same. SEC teams lead all conferences, with nine teams ranked. ACC falls behind with seven teams, while the Pac-12 and Big 12 have a combined six. The American, Big Ten, and Sun Belt each have one team representing their respective conferences.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky Wildcats took on Elon. Despite losing the first game, UK fought back and took care of business in the next two games. Kentucky’s pitching staff did a tremendous job by only giving up three runs — which leaves fans with optimism as the team lost three of the top four hurlers from a staff that ranked No. 10 in the SEC with an ERA of 4.89. The only returning pitcher from that notable group is Darren Williams, who is working his way back from Tommy John. However, Kentucky’s offense lacked pep on opening weekend.
Just one year ago, Kentucky surrendered more runs in its season opener against Jacksonville State with eight runs than it has through four games this season, with six total.
Mississippi State, which lost Paducah-native Jackson Fristoe to the MLB Draft, won the series over VMI but dropped Saturday’s game after blowing a healthy lead. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, VMI scored 19 runs over the weekend.
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