The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 21st year with its 2018 weekly surveys and for the second-straight week of the regular season, the top three remain unchanged, with Florida at No. 1, Oregon State at No. 2 and Texas Tech at No. 3.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators were the preseason favorite and are No. 1 for the second-straight week of the regular season after going 4-1 last week, including taking two-of-three from in-state rival Miami (FL).
Oregon State, which was tops nationally for most of the 2017 season and ended with the most victories (56) in DI baseball, remained ranked No. 2 for the third-straight week after going 5-0 last week, including going undefeated in the Big 10-Pac-12 Spring Training College Baseball Challenge.
Rounding out the top three is Texas Tech, who is now 8-0 on the season after going 4-0 last week.
Spots four and five went through some shuffling this week, as Florida State jumped up to No. 4 from No. 5, and Stanford joined the top five after going 5-0 last week, including a four-game sweep of Rice.
Joining the top 10 this week was Vanderbilt, who comes in at No. 10 after going an impressive 5-0 last week.
The 2018 poll voters come from among 35 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. After a preseason Top 35 listing, the remainder of the polls will feature a national Top 30 beginning with the Feb. 19 NCBWA DI survey.
The current survey has representation by 12 different conferences among the 299 baseball-playing schools in the 2018 NCAA Division I ranks. The rankings of 2017 had 13 different DI conferences rated at least one week. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.
Feb. 26 NCBWA Top 30
1 Florida 7-1 SEC 1
2 Oregon State 8-0 Pac-12 2
3 Texas Tech 7-0 Big 12 3
4 Florida State 7-0 ACC 5
5 Stanford 8-0 Pac-12 9
6 Kentucky 7-1 SEC 6
7 TCU 4-2 Big 12 7
8 Texas A&M 7-0 SEC 10
9 Arkansas 5-2 SEC 4
10 Vanderbilt 7-1 SEC 11
11 UCLA 6-1 Pac-12 12
12 Ole Miss 7-0 SEC 14
13 Louisville 7-0 ACC 13
14 Clemson 7-0 ACC 16
15 South Alabama 7-1 Sun Belt 20
16 Indiana 6-1 Big Ten 23
17 Southern Miss 5-2 Conference USA 15
18 LSU 4-3 SEC 21
19 North Carolina 3-5 ACC 8
20 Virginia 4-3 ACC 17
21 Texas 4-3 Big 12 19
22 Houston 4-2 American Athletic 24
23 Saint John’s 7-0 Big East 27
24 East Carolina 6-1 American Athletic RV
25 Auburn 8-0 SEC RV
26 North Carolina State 7-1 ACC 29
27 Mississippi State 3-4 SEC 25
28 Dallas Baptist 3-3 Missouri Valley 18
29 Alabama 7-0 SEC RV
30 San Diego 7-2 West Coast RV
Also Receiving Votes:
Florida Atlantic (6-1), Florida Gulf Coast University (6-1), Fresno State (7-2), Georgia (6-1), Kent State (4-2), Louisiana (5-3), Miami (FL) (3-4), Minnesota (5-2), Missouri State (4-2), Nebraska (5-3), Notre Dame (4-3), Oklahoma (4-4), Oklahoma State (4-1), Oregon (4-2), Purdue (6-1), Saint Mary’s College (4-3), Sam Houston State (5-1), San Diego State (5-2), South Carolina (6-2), Stetson (6-1), UC Irvine (5-2), UCF (4-3), USC (6-1), VMI (5-2), Wichita State (6-0)