The Duke Blue Devils have lost a series for the first time all season. It wasn’t as if they lost a team to be ashamed of, but this is the first series loss Chris Pollard and his team will have to bounce back from.
The Clemson Tigers came to Durham for Duke’s home ACC opening weekend, and the Tigers spoiled it, taking the Saturday and Sunday games to claim the series. With that series loss, the Blue Devils have slid in the latest D1Baseball rankings. Duke remains a top-10 team, but they are now ninth after their three-spot slide.
Arkansas continues to cruise atop the rankings, while Oregon State and Vanderbilt round out the top three. The Commodores jumped six spots.
Clemson shot up six spots to fourth, now the highest-ranked ACC team in the poll. A slew of SEC teams follow with LSU and Florida at fifth and sixth, respectively, and Texas A&M and Tennessee rounding out the teams in front of Duke.
Fellow North Carolina-based team ECU officially cracked the top 10 for the first time this season.
Florida State debuted at 12, joining the ranks of ACC teams inside the top 25. The Seminoles have reeled off 18 straight wins to start the season and are the only undefeated team in the poll.
Virginia is 14th after taking a series from Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons continue to slide after their second straight series loss. They are now 16th after holding the seventh spot last week.
Virginia Tech also enters the poll after being unranked last week. They are 19th, one place ahead of UNC at 20. After a week that saw them go winless, getting swept by Georgia Tech, the NC State Wolfpack are officially out of the poll.
Duke will end its six-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts Towson at Jack Coombs Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.