Alabama baseball moves into top 10 in latest USA TODAY Coaches Poll

Alabama baseball continues to move up in the rankings. In the latest USA TODAY Coaches Poll, the Tide are inside the Top 10.

Following an impressive series victory over Tennessee, Alabama baseball is riding high. With a surprisingly successful start to the 2024 season, the Crimson Tide now finds itself inside the Top-10 of the latest USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

With a new head coach and high turnover on the roster, not many expected Alabama to perform as well as it has so far. While being a top-10 team is noteworthy, it’s important to put it into perspective, especially as conference play gets underway.

Though the Tide ranks No. 10, there are still six SEC teams ranked above them. Defeating Tennessee in a series 2-1 turned heads, but it will take consistent winning for Alabama to be considered a genuine contender.

Check out the Full USA TODAY Sports Baseball Coaches Poll.

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 Arkansas 17-2 775 (31)
2 Oregon State 17-2 713 +1
3 Vanderbilt 18-3 671 +7
4 LSU 17-4 645 -2
5 Clemson 17-2 630 +4
6 Texas A&M 18-2 602 -2
7 Tennessee 18-3 534 -1
8 Florida 12-7 506 +3
9 Duke 15-5 491 -2
10 Alabama 17-3 471 +2
11 Virginia 16-4 434 +4
12 Florida State 18-0 428 +10
13 ECU 14-4 418 +3
14 Wake Forest 13-6 390 -9
15 Coastal Carolina 17-3 384 +2
16 DBU 16-3 324 +2
17 UNC 17-4 276 -4
18 TCU 15-5 243 -10
19 Camp 15-4 190 +4
20 Oklahoma 13-6 168 +22
21 UC-Irv 15-3 145 -1
22 UCSB 12-5 92 +5
23 Virginia Tech 14-4 86 +6
24 Auburn 13-6 79 -5
25 Kentucky 17-3 65 +17

Schools Dropped Out

No. 14 North Carolina State; No. 20 South Carolina; No. 24 Texas; No. 25 Texas Tech;

Others Receiving Votes

Mississippi State 58; South Carolina 56; North Carolina State 44; Georgia Tech 23; Texas Tech 20; Southern Miss 17; Miami (FL) 16; Ole Miss 15; UCF 12; Texas 11; Nebraska 8; Oregon 7; Indiana State 7; Georgia 7; Louisiana Tech 5; Troy 3; Oklahoma State 2; Northeastern 2; Maryland 2;

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama Baseball as the 2024 season progresses.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

Texas baseball wins two of three games against Texas Tech

Texas got a bounce back series win on the road against Texas Tech.

The Texas Longhorns got back in the win column against the Texas Tech Red Raiders over the weekend. The Longhorns took a series win with two victories in three days.

The much needed performance followed a four-game losing streak. The losing skid is in the rear view mirror after the team began Big 12 play with a 2-1 start in Lubbock.

Texas scored 22 runs in the first of three games to highlight the series performance. Its high scoring output unleashed four games worth of frustration on the diamond.

That it was able to put up so many runs against an opponent of Texas Tech’s caliber is noteworthy for the team moving forward. While series win doesn’t erase big picture concerns we have for the program, it was an impressive response to an adverse start to the season.

Texas will look to channel the momentum into more wins in Big 12 play. The Longhorns improve to 9-6 on the season.

Texas baseball drops its fourth straight in loss to Texas A&M, 9-2

Texas baseball hasn’t been all that competitive against top teams.

Texas baseball lost its fourth straight game on Tuesday. The Longhorns fell to the surging Texas A&M Aggies who in contrast are off to a scorching start.

The four-game stretch has seen Texas lose to good teams, but the Longhorns were completely outclassed in all four matchups. From a blown eight-run lead against Vanderbilt to a late inning lead against Texas State, head coach David Pierce’s team couldn’t capitalize even when it had an advantage.

In fairness to Pierce and company, top programs go through tough stretches. It’s normal for good teams to lose several games simply because baseball involves multiple variables. Even so, blown leads, unreliable performance and not playing up to top competition are indicators that a baseball team might not succeed in the postseason.

Texas can still improve, but the early start to the season portends what could be another disappointing postseason for college baseball’s most storied program. The team will need focused effort to live up to its high aspirations.

Texas baseball gets swept at Astros Foundation College Classic

Texas opponents sat the Longhorns down one, two, three in the three-game showcase.

The Texas baseball squad went winless this weekend in the Astros Foundation College Classic. What looked to be a tremendous opportunity to bolster its NCAA tournament resume resulted in a three-game sweep.

The Longhorns’ bats have struggled in the early going this season, but it was the pitching that led to the three losses. The pitching staff allowed 31 runs in the three games capped by a 14-11 loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday.

Texas didn’t lose for lack of offensive power. The Longhorns held a 10-9 lead heading into the ninth inning of Saturday’s game against Texas State before allowing two runs in the final inning. On Sunday, the team blew an 11-3 lead through four innings to allow 11 unanswered runs to end the game.

There’s plenty of baseball left to play, and one weekend won’t define how far the team can go in the postseason. But the three games illustrate just how far Texas is from competing atop college baseball this season.

The Longhorns will next face Texas A&M on Tuesday.

Charlie Condon homers three times in Georgia’s loss to Michigan State

Georgia’s Charlie Condon hits three home runs in Michigan State loss

On a night when the Bulldogs suffered their first loss of the 2024 season at home to Michigan State by a final score of 19-6, the talk around the SEC baseball world was still the performance of Georgia slugger Charlie Condon.

One of the conference’s top hitters, Condon continued his stellar start to the 2024 season Wednesday night, going three-for-four with three HR, four RBI, and three runs scored. Condon, who drew the start defensively in left field, also walked once, with his three home runs coming in the first, second, and fourth innings.

Not only was this certainly an impressive performance from the Georgia slugger, but it also continued what has been a truly stellar start to the year for Condon.

Across nine games, a span in which Georgia is 8-1, Condon is slashing a phenomenal .639/.696/1.417 with seven HR and 13 RBI, along with having drawn eight walks compared to only five strikeouts. Condon is also among the conference leaders in multiple statistical categories, as well as ranking top five in a few nationally.

Is Condon the early frontrunner for the 2024 SEC Player of the Year? He will have some stiff competition from Florida’s two-way star Jac Caglianone.

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A college baseball player was ridiculously ejected for a bat flip after game-tying grand slam

This was an absurd ejection by the umpire after a hype moment.

Hitting a game-tying grand slam is an event that should be cause for massive celebration. According to one college baseball umpire, however, it lead to an ejection instead.

On Sunday, Grand Canyon was playing Nebraska to close out their early-season series against one another. Nebraska won two of three games played, with Grand Canyon looking to tie the series Sunday afternoon. However, Grand Canyon was down 8-4 entering the bottom of the fifth and needed a big offensive half inning to get back into it.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Tyler Wilson delivered for Grand Canyon with a towering shot to right field for a game-tying grand slam. However, as Wilson approached home plate, the umpire motioned his way and suddenly ejected him. Why? Because Wilson threw his bat in the air after the ball cleared the outfield fence.

That’s a pretty innocuous bat flip, all things considered. Wilson didn’t even break stride or trot as he did it!

It’s still early in the baseball calendar but add this one to the bad umpires tally.

Notre Dame Baseball: Irish Stay Unbeaten With Friday Night Win in Miami

Irish bats stay hot!

Notre Dame baseball continued their strong start to the season Friday when the Irish took down Florida International 13-4 in Miami.

Power bats were the story for the Irish again as Notre Dame slugged four home runs in the victory.  T.J. Williams led the way with two blasts while David Glancy and Connor Hincks added long balls as well.

Williams first home run came in the second inning, a three-run blast to give Notre Dame an early 3-0 lead.  Solid baserunning and taking advantage of FIU misques led to three more runs in the third, stretching the lead to 6-0 before a couple of issues in the field by the Irish led to a pair of FIU runs in the bottom half.

Williams added his second home run of the night in the sixth inning, this one a solo shot to stretch the lead back to 8-2 before FIU put up another pair in the bottom half.

Hincks went yard with a three-run blast in the eighth to make it an 11-4 lead for the Irish before they’d tack on a pair more in the ninth.

Notre Dame is now 4-0 on the young season and will play a pair of games Saturday against Florida International again starting at 2 p.m. ET.

Alabama baseball earns series sweep over Manhattan to begin the Rob Vaughn era

The Rob Vaughn era of Alabama baseball gets off to a hot start

There is just something special about the opening weekend of the college baseball season. It could be because baseball signifies that spring is just around the corner and warmer weather is headed this way, but regardless of the reason, this time of year is always fun.

For the new era of Alabama baseball under the leadership of Rob Vaughn, you could not have planned a better opening weekend. On Sunday, the Crimson Tide completed the series sweep of Manhattan with an 11-8 victory over the Jaspers.

After Sunday’s win, Coach Vaughn had the following to say:

“What I really look for as a coach is the level of energy that we bring (on Sunday). Today was a really cold morning and it is easy, especially after winning a game 15-0, to show up hoping that the other team just rolls over, but I don’t think our guys did that today. Our energy was great, I just don’t think we played an awesome brand of baseball defensively. But that is why you have some of these early games, to kind of get that going, and we did enough offensively to get the win.”

With the win on Sunday, No. 17 Alabama improved to 3-0 on the young season and will host a pair of midweek games this week. First, Alabama will welcome Middle Tennessee on Tuesday before hosting Alabama State on Wednesday.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow the progress of Coach Vaughn and the baseball team throughout the season.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X (Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on X (Twitter) @Blackwood89.

Notre Dame Baseball: Irish Bats Slug 5 Homers in Sweep of Rice

Get your brooms out!

Notre Dame baseball beat Rice three-straight games to open the 2024 season this weekend, culminating with a 13-10 slugfest victory on Sunday.

The Irish fell behind early Sunday, trailing 3-0 through two innings.  Simon Baumgardt and Connor Hicks got the Irish on the board in the third though by starting the inning with back-to-back solo home runs, only to see Rice answer back with another run in the bottom half.

The Irish sacrificed their way to a run in the top of the sixth to get back within one but Rice third baseman Jack Riedel went big fly with a three run home run to stretch the Owls lead back to four.

Notre Dame erupted for a huge seventh inning to take the lead however.  Left fielder David Glancy started the inning with a solo home run before a slew of walks had the Irish applying pressure all inning.  Joey Spence doubled and TJ Williams singled to help push in what wound up being five runs in the innings for Notre Dame.

Rice wasn’t done however as they’d scratch across another run in the bottom of the eighth to retie the contest at 8.  That set up a memorable top of the ninth for the Irish as Carson Tinney put the Irish back in front with a lead off home run.

Williams, DM Jefferson, and shortstop Jack Penney would all reach to set up right fielder Tito Flores to be the hero as he hit a grand slam to give Notre Dame a 13-8 edge.

Rice wouldn’t go quietly though as a Kyte McDonald two-run home run got the Owls back within two but they’d get no closer.  Ricky Reeth would retire the final two Rice batters to lock down the Notre Dame win and sweep.

The Irish start the year 3-0 with the sweep of Rice and will return to action next weekend in Miami when they travel to take on Florida International.