Tag: d1baseball

Sooners enter postseason play as the No. 8 team in latest D1Baseball poll

Oklahoma checks in at 8th in latest D1Baseball poll.

Oklahoma just completed its most successful Big 12 regular season in program history. For the first time, the Sooners are Big 12 regular season champions. It’s incredibly fitting that the Sooners would win it on their way out. Next season, Big 12 Coach of the Year Skip Johnson and the Sooners will fight for supremacy in the vaunted SEC, the nation’s best baseball conference.

With the regular season behind them, the Sooners now focus on cementing themselves as the undisputed best team in the Big 12 by winning the 2024 Big 12 Tournament.

When the Sooners take the field, they’ll do so as a top-10 team. After a 2-1 weekend at Cincinnati to wrap up the regular season, the Sooners saw a four-spot rise in the latest D1 Baseball poll. They jumped up four spots from 12 to 8 on Monday.

Oklahoma is, without a doubt, playing some incredible baseball. All aspects of the team have been clicking at the right time, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Sooners have risen to eighth.

The opportunity exists for the Sooners to own a top eight seed in the NCAA tournament, which would give them the chance to host a regional and super regional if they should win.

Tennessee remains one, while Kentucky, Clemson, and Texas A&M are the top four.

Arkansas slid from third to fifth,  Oregon State was sixth, and the ACC regular season champs, UNC, slot in ahead of OU at seventh.

The East Carolina Pirates, at ninth, and the Florida State Seminoles round out the remainder of the top 10.

Oklahoma isn’t the only Big 12 team in this week’s poll either. The Oklahoma State Cowboys check in at 19 while the Texas Longhorns move up from 25 to 24 in this week’s rankings.

As things stand, the Sooners will take on the winner of Kansas and Kansas State on Wednesday at 12:30 pm CT and the game can be seen on ESPN+.

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Gators baseball jumps 7 spots in RPI after series win over Georgia

Despite not being ranked in any of the major college baseball polls, Florida has one of the best RPI rankings in the country.

For a team that is well outside the top 25 in both the D1Baseball rankings and USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, the Florida Gators have one of the best resumes in the country for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Gators are ranked No. 22 overall on D1Baseball’s RPI report to close out the regular season. Florida enters the postseason with a 28-26 record, guaranteeing a win percentage greater than .500 no matter what happens in the upcoming SEC Tournament.

The Gators had the toughest regular season schedule in the country, ranking first overall in strength of schedule. There’s a lot of talent that goes to play college baseball in the state of Florida, and the Gators see most of those teams.

Breaking down Florida’s wins and losses

Similar to the NET rankings in college basketball, D1Baseball’s RPI Report features a quadrant system to better categorize each win and loss. Quadrant 1 wins can help a team win a tiebreaker when the Field of 64 is picked, but Quadrant 4 losses can have the reverse effect.

Florida played the majority of its games against Quadrant 1 opponents, going 13-17. The Gators struggled against Quadrant 2 opponents with a 2-6 record and split the four games it played against Quadrant 3 teams. Most importantly, Florida dropped just one of 12 games against Quadrant 4 opponents.

Up Next

Florida can still move up the RPI Report with a strong performance at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama. The Gators take on the Vanderbilt Commodores on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. ET.

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Where SEC teams stand in D1Baseball rankings after end of regular season

The Gators will end the regular season unranked after a terrible second half against, but a run in the SEC tournament could change things.

Florida is not one of the six SEC teams to make the D1Baseball rankings’ end-of-season update, but the Gators did knock Georgia out of the top 10 with a series win over the Bulldogs this weekend.

Similar to the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, the quartet of Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Arkansas take up four of the top five spots on this list. The only difference is that Clemson split the group into pairs at the No. 3 spot in the D1Baseball rankings. Georgia is No. 11 this week, and Mississippi State has the No. 15 spot.

South Carolina is the only SEC team to get bounced from the top 25 after being swept in Knoxville by the No. 1 team in the country.

Up Next For Florida

There’s a close to zero chance for Florida to enter the NCAA Tournament ranked, but a run at the SEC Tournament could do the trick. Advancing to the double-elimination stage is crucial, but that means beating a Vanderbilt team that took two of three from Florida earlier in the year.

The Gators and Commodores matchup on Tuesday at 5:30 in Hoover, Alabama.

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D1Baseball’s tournament projections have UF, FSU in same regional

The Gators and Seminoles could face off for the fourth time this spring if they both make it to the Tallahassee Regional finals.

The college baseball regular season is officially over which means it is time to start evaluating which teams will play where in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Of course, there are still conference tourneys to be played, but that has never slowed down the prognosticators.

D1Baseball released its field of 64 projections on Monday in which the Florida Gators found themselves a No. 3 seed in their respective bracket. Those games will be played in the Tallahassee Regional, where the Florida State Seminoles hold the No. 9 overall seed and the top seed in the bracket.

Also included are the No. 2-seeded Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and No. 4-seeded Florida A&M Rattlers.

The Orange and Blue struggled against the ‘Noles this season, dropping all three games in blowout losses including a pair of mercy rule defeats. Coming into the 2024 campaign, Florida had won its last four against FSU.

However, [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag]’s team did beat FAMU on April 2, 10-7, at Condron Family Ballpark.

Up next for Florida

The Gators face the Vanderbilt Commodores on Tuesday in Hoover, Alabama, for their opening single-elimination game of the SEC Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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Where are the Duke Blue Devils in D1Baseball’s latest postseason bracket projection?

The Blue Devils seem out of the running of regional hosting duties after a 6-7 close to the season, but who does D1Baseball have them traveling to?

D1Baseball released one last 64-team projection before conference tournaments on Monday, one day before the ACC Championship begins in Charlotte.

After losing seven of its final 13 games, including two in a row at the hands of North Carolina to end the regular season, Duke earned the second Seed in the Greenville Region hosted by East Carolina.

The Blue Devils got the same draw in D1Baseball’s projection last week, however, East Carolina was the 12th overall seed at the time. On Monday, D1Baseball had them as the No. 15 team in the field, the second-lowest-ranked host.

If Duke fans want a reason for optimism, East Carolina was one of the Blue Devils’ six wins over the closing stretch, and Duke even went into Greenville to beat them.

Charleston and Presbyterian rounded out the four-team bracket.

The projections say five ACC teams currently sit in line to host postseason action; North Carolina (No. 4), Clemson (No. 6), Florida State (No. 9), NC State (No. 11), and Virginia (No. 12).

Duke gets one last chance to jump into the top 16 at the ACC tournament this week, beginning with pool play against Virginia Tech on Tuesday and the Wolfpack on Thursday.

Duke baseball dropped as regional host after Georgia Tech series loss, per D1Baseball

D1Baseball released a 64-team projection for the postseason on Wednesday, and the Blue Devils dropped to a No. 2 seed after losing two of three to Georgia Tech.

After two losses in a road series to Georgia Tech last weekend, the Duke baseball team might not get to host postseason action in Durham.

D1Baseball released a full 64-team projection for the collegiate postseason on Wednesday, and the Blue Devils appeared as the No. 2 seed in the Greenville Region hosted by East Carolina.

UNC Greensboro and High Point rounded out the region as the third and fourth seeds, respectively.

Five ACC schools were selected among the 16 regional hosts. North Carolina (No. 5 seed), Clemson (No. 6 seed), Wake Forest (No. 8 seed), Florida State (No. 9 seed), and Virginia (No. 15 seed) all would host postseason action in their home ballparks.

The No. 2 seeds in each region aren’t cleanly seeded on D1Baseball, or they at least aren’t labeled by overall seeds. However, East Carolina earned the 12th seed, so reading between the lines, Duke seems like they’re hovering around the 20th overall spot in the field.

If Duke fans want some solace in the drop, however, the Blue Devils did defeat East Carolina on the road 5-2 back on May 7.

Florida baseball enters final regular season series just outside RPI top 25

Florida’s series loss to Kentucky has the Gators moving down the latest RPI rankings from D1Baseball.

Despite Florida being on a six-series losing streak that’s spanned a month and a half, the Gators are still well positioned to finish the 2024 regular season inside the top 25 of the RPI rankings.

According to D1Baseball’s latest update, Florida stands at No. 29, but that’s following a six-spot dip over the past seven days. The Gators tend to compete with the best teams in the sport only to come up short the next day. They solved their midweek problem, which means they’re beating the mid-major teams SEC elites are supposed to again but a 26-25 record hardly impresses.

Much the like college basketball’s NET rankings, the D1Baseball RPI rankings use a quadrant system. Quadrant 1 wins and Quadrant 4 losses are the biggest drivers of movement in a system like that, and Florida is 11-1 against Q4 opponents.

The 11-16 record against Q1 opponent is less impressive, but it’s not bad enough to drag Florida down to the 40s and 50s. Playing in the SEC is hard, and Florida is a sweep away from finishing the season with a decent conference record.

As expected, the top 25 is littered with SEC teams. Kentucky, Texas A&M, Georgia and Arkansas control the top four spots, and Tennessee checks in at No. 6 overall. Alabama is next up at No. 11, Mississippi State is at No. 15 and South Carolina is hanging on to a top-20 spot at No. 19.

No. 24 Ole Miss and No. 28 Vanderbilt are the other two SEC teams ahead of Florida on the list. Only No. 34 LSU, No. 45 Auburn and No. 106 Missouri are ranked lower than UF.

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Taking a look at the Week 13 D1Baseball rankings

Here’s a look at the top 25 college baseball programs in the country with just one week left in the regular season.

The college baseball regular season is coming to an end and Florida is set to face an opponent that recently jumped up six spots to No. 9 on the D1Baseball rankings.

The folks at D1 gave Georgia one of the biggest bumps of the weekend following a sweep over South Carolina. Florida already lost a series to the Gamecocks, so the transitive property is not on the Gators’ side this week.

The Bulldogs weren’t the only SEC team to jump up a few spots inside the top 10. Kentucky moved up two spots to No. 2 after securing a series win in extra innings in Gainesville on Sunday.

Looking at the rest of the SEC, Tennessee remains in the top spot following a series win over Vanderbilt, Arkansas moved up to No. 3 and knocked Mississippi State from No. 14 to No. 16 and Texas A&M fell to No. 5 after dropping a series to Ole Miss.

South Carolina is the only other team from the conference inside the top 25 at No. 24.

Florida begins its final regular season series with Georgia on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. The game will air on SEC Network+.

The full rankings from D1Baseball can be found here.

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Gators still projected to make 2024 NCAA Baseball as 3-seed

D1Baseball’s latest NCAA Tournament projections has the Florida Gators as a No. 3 seed in a competitive region led by No. 13 Duke.

Florida’s path to an NCAA Tournament return isn’t so clear a year after making it to the College World Series Finals.

The Gators would make the field of 64 as the No. 3 seed in the Durham Region hosted by No. 13 Duke, according to D1Baseball’s Week 13 projections. The UC Irvine Anteaters are the No. 2 seed and the Columbia Lions are the No. 4 seed in this scenario.

At least one of those matchups favors the Orange and Blue. Florida swept Columbia in February, outscoring the Lions by 20 runs over three games, but the other two teams in that proposed region are relative unknowns to UF.

Two key series against ranked opponents remain on Florida’s schedule. Winning out against No. 3 Kentucky and No. 15 Georgia could mean a significant jump for Florida, but losing all six games could mean missing out on the tournament entirely.

A top-25 ranking on the RPI report means that Florida has a better chance to make it than miss. The Gators essentially control their fate with a small shot to host a regional — a strong finish to the regular season and a deep run at the SEC Tournament is almost necessary, though.

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Florida’s Jac Caglianone ranked top 1B in NCAA by D1Baseball

As the 2024 season draws to a close, Jac Caglianone remains on top of D1Baseball’s ranking of the best first baseman in the NCAA.

Florida first baseman [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] was already considered one of the top players at his position heading into the 2024 season, and he is set up to end the year as the No. 1 player on D1Baseball’s positional rankings.

Wake Forest’s Nick Kurtz entered the year ahead of Caglianone, but Florida’s slugger overtook him by the midseason update after Week 6. At the time, the race wasn’t close, and Kurtz was in danger of slipping out of the race for the top spot. Since then, Kurtz has mashed the ball, adding 13 home runs and 39 runs batted in to his resume in six weeks.

Still, Caglianone’s numbers are far and away the best among college first basemen. He’s slashing .410/.511/.847 to Kurtz’s .324/.532/.820, winning the OPS battle by 0.006 points. Caglianone’s 53 runs batted in aren’t good enough for the nation’s high point, but it’s the most among SEC players on the list.

Most importantly, Caglianone has only struck out 17 times compared to 30 walks. He’s matured at the plate and refined his eye. There’s no more big swing and miss with two strikes, and he’s the rare case of a left hitting well against a pitcher of the same hand.

With 26 home runs, Caglianone is chasing history at Florida. He needs seven to tie Georgia’s Charlie Condon for the nation’s lead, but that’s how many Caglianone ended 2023 with after a College World Series run that went to the last possible game. It seems impossible with just six games left in the regular season and only a handful of guaranteed postseason games, but Cags has defied logic plenty of times.

Two other Gators crack top-50 lists

Second baseman [autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] and shortstop [autotag]Colby Shelton[/autotag] are the only other two Florida position players to make one fo D1Baseball’s Week 12 lists. Both began the season in the No. 5 spot on their respective lists, but Shelton ends the season at No. 28 and Kurland at No. 48.

Luke Heyman started the season ranked No. 23 on the list after slashing .314/.366/.555 with 12 home runs and 39 runs batted in as a freshman, but a rough 2024 has him unranked to end the year. Heyman moved up to No. 15 on the Week 6 update, but he’s been bad against conference opponents, lowering the hopes of turning pro as a draft-eligible sophomore.

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