Texas A&M baseball climb to the top spot in the new USA TODAY Coaches Poll

Texas A&M jumps two spots to No. 1 in the country after a dominating week going 4-0 and sweeping No. 6 Vanderbilt

There’s a new sheriff in town for Week 9 and they reside in the great state of Texas. The Texas A&M Aggie baseball team (32-4, 11-4 SEC) has captured the number one spot in the USA TODAY Coaches poll after going 4-0 during the week and sweeping the No. 6 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores impressively. They hit a total of nine home runs over the weekend outscoring Vanderbilt 36-6 for their sweep of a ranked opponent since 2016.

If their weekly resume wasn’t already ready enough the previous two top teams both lost their series over the weekend. Arkansas dropped two out of three to Alabama and Clemson did the same to NC State.

After those developments it was all but written in stone that A&M would be the new No. 1 team in the country when the polls dropped. There is still a lot of baseball left to be played, but this solidified what a lot of experts have been saying about Jim Schlossnalge’s Aggies.

Here are the complete Week 9 rankings.

Rank Team Record PTS 1st Prev Chg Hi/Lo
1
Texas A&M
32-4 764 22 3
+2
1/10
2
Arkansas
30-5 738 7 1
-1
1/5
3
Tennessee
30-6 703 1 4
+1
3/8
4
Oregon State
29-5 656 0 5
+1
2/7
5
Kentucky
30-5 628 1 8
+3
5/NR
6
Clemson
29-6 627 0 2
-4
2/11
7
Florida State
30-5 577 0 9
+2
7/NR
8
Virginia
28-8 528 0 10
+2
8/15
8
Duke
26-10 528 0 7
-1
7/14
10
East Carolina
27-8 505 0 11
+1
10/16
11
North Carolina
29-7 491 0 12
+1
7/17
12
Vanderbilt
26-10 432 0 6
-6
3/14
13
Wake Forest
24-11 369 0 15
+2
1/22
14
Alabama
24-12 307 0 17
+3
10/18
15
Louisiana
28-9 267 0 24
+9
15/NR
16
UC Irvine
25-7 264 0 14
-2
14/NR
17
Oklahoma State
25-11 258 0 25
+8
17/NR
18
Oregon
25-10 235 0 22
+4
18/NR
19
Dallas Baptist
26-8 184 0 13
-6
8/NR
20
Coastal Carolina
24-11 183 0 20 15/21
21
South Carolina
25-11 172 0 NR
+5
14/NR
22
Virginia Tech
23-10 115 0 16
-6
15/NR
23
Georgia
27-9 93 0 NR
+6
23/NR
24
West Virginia
22-13 81 0 NR
+13
24/NR
25
Indiana State
27-7 77 0 NR
+2
25/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 18 Florida; No. 19 UCF; No. 21 Nebraska; No. 23 Mississippi State;

Others Receiving Votes

Arizona 64; Nebraska 40; Oklahoma 27; Mississippi State 23; Florida 22; North Carolina State 21; Lamar 19; Texas Tech 14; Northeastern 13; UC Santa Barbara 11; UCF 10; Campbell 10; Utah 9; Creighton 7; Georgetown 2; Georgia Tech 1;

Texas A&M will face Air Force on Tuesday, April 16, at 4:00 p.m. CT, where the game will air on SEC Network+.

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Auburn softball receives votes in USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll following week nine’s action

The Tigers have a tall task ahead of them this weekend at No. 6 LSU.

Auburn softball took a step away from SEC action last week by hosting Lousiana Tech and Georgia Tech for the War Eagle Classic. The Tigers finished 3-1 on the weekend and will return to conference action with confidence.

Following week nine’s action, Auburn remains in the “remaining votes” category of the latest USA TODAY/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. Auburn is one of two SEC teams in the category this week, joining Kentucky.

Ten SEC teams make up this week’s poll, with Tennessee leading all SEC teams at No. 4. The Volunteers climb two spots this week after taking two of three games from No. 7 Georgia over the weekend in Knoxville. On the flip side, Georgia dropped four spots in the rankings due to the loss.

Auburn’s next conference opponent, LSU, drops one spot to No. 6 after losing last weekend’s series to No. 9 Florida in Gainesville. Texas A&M and Alabama are next in line at No. 11 and No. 12 respectively. The Aggies and Crimson Tide will battle this weekend in Tuscaloosa in what will be a pivotal series in the SEC.

Missouri, Mississippi State, and Arkansas round out the SEC’s representation in the top 20, with South Carolina checking in at No. 22. Ole Miss is the lone SEC program not to receive coaches poll consideration this week.

Complete week nine rankings from USA TODAY/NCFA

Rank Team Record Points Last Week
1 Oklahoma 35-3 770 1
2 Texas 31-6 766 4
3 Duke 33-3 760 2
4 Tennessee 30-6 666 6
5 Oklahoma State 33-6 647 7
6 LSU 31-5 643 5
7 Georgia 31-8 620 3
8 Stanford 31-6 604 8
9 Florida 33-6 550 10
10 Washington 26-7 486 9
11 Texas A&M 31-8 443 13
12 Alabama 29-8 409 14
13 UCLA 22-9 409 12
14 Missouri 30-10 373 11
15 Virginia Tech 28-9-1 358 15
16 Mississippi State 28-10 337 16
17 Arkansas 28-10 250 18
18 Florida State 28-10 250 18
19 Clemson 27-11 238 17
20 California 29-11 156 20
21 Arizona 24-12-1 128 21
22 Oregon 22-13 113 24
23 South Carolina 28-12 105 22
24 Boston University 29-4 82 23
25 Texas State 32-9 68 NR

Others Receiving Votes

Louisiana (25), Baylor (19), Kentucky (17), Miami (17), Kansas (8), FAU (5), Virginia (5), Nevada (3), Northwestern (2), Auburn (1), Grand Canyon (1).

Dropped Out

No. 25 Baylor

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Texas A&M baseball stays put in newest USA TODAY Coaches Poll

The Aggies stay at No. 3 in the newest Coaches Poll

Texas A&M baseball’s (28-4, 8-4 SEC) eight-game winning streak may have ended on Sunday afternoon, but winning their first SEC road series against the South Carolina Gamecocks inside the always-tough Founders Field is worth the one loss.

On the weekend, grad transfer Hayden Schott led the way offensively, with six hits and nine RBI vs. the Gamecocks, including a 3-4 showing on Sunday. Ace pitcher Ryan Prager (7-1) delivered one of his best performances of the young season, recording 12 Ks in 6.1 innings in Game 1.

Before the Aggies’ critical home series against No. 6-ranked Vanderbilt (25-7), a midweek matchup against UTSA (19-13) awaits on Tuesday night. On Monday, the newest USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll saw little change among the top programs, while the surging Kentucky Wildcats moved up eight spots to No. 8, followed by Wake Forest climbing seven spots to No. 15.

Within the SEC, five programs represent the top ten, while three more conference members round out the remainder of the Top 25.

Here are the complete Week 8 rankings.

Rank Team Overall Points (1st) Previous Rank Change
1 Arkansas 27-3 775 (31) 1
2 Clemson 28-3 735 2
3 Texas A&M 28-4 716 3
4 Tennessee 26-6 656 4
5 Oregon State 26-4 655 5
6 Vanderbilt 25-7 609 6
7 Duke 24-8 580 10 +3
8 Kentucky 27-4 503 16 +8
9 Florida State 26-5 498 12 +3
10 Virginia 25-7 490 11 +1
11 East Carolina 23-7 440 13 +2
12 North Carolina 26-6 432 7 -5
13 Dallas Baptist 25-6 405 8 -5
14 UC Irvine 24-4 397 17 +3
15 Wake Forest 21-10 284 22 +7
16 Virginia Tech 21-8 216 15 -1
17 Alabama 22-10 192 14 -3
18 Florida 17-14 187 9 -9
19 UCF 21-8 186 NR +8
20 Coastal Carolina 22-9 166 21 +1
21 Nebraska 22-7 142 23 +2
22 Oregon 12-8 128 NR +7
23 Mississippi State 21-12 114 NR +3
24 Louisiana 24-8 109 NR +12
25 Oklahoma State 21-11 94 NR +7

Schools Dropped Out

No. 18 LSU; No. 19 South Carolina; No. 20 North Carolina State; No. 24 Georgia; No. 25 TCU;

Others Receiving Votes

South Carolina 67; Indiana State 59; LSU 54; Georgia 45; Texas Tech 26; Creighton 23; Northeastern 14; TCU 12; North Carolina State 11; Lamar 11; Campbell 11; West Virginia 8; St. John’s 7; Ole Miss 4; Kansas State 4; Oklahoma 3; UC Santa Barbara 2; Southern Miss 2; Louisiana Tech 2; Utah 1

Texas A&M will face UTSA on Tuesday, April 9, at 6:00 p.m. CT, where the game will air on SEC Network+.

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Auburn remains unranked in week 8 USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

The Auburn Tigers remain unranked in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll following a 2-2 week on the diamond.

The Auburn Tigers remain unranked in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll following a 2-2 week on the diamond. After starting the week 2-0 with a couple of impressive wins, head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag]’s squad fell apart, losing both weekend contests in 7-inning mercy rule fashion.

The two blowout losses came at the hands of No. 4 ranked Tennessee. After losing a back-and-forth series opener 9-5 on Friday, the Vols rallied to completely dismantle Auburn over the final two games in Plainsman Park.

The series loss was the Tigers fifth straight to open the SEC season. The streak could very well extend to a sixth straight series with surprise SEC contender No. 8 Kentucky heading to the Plains next weekend.

Auburn is now 18-13 on the season but just 2-10 in SEC play. The Tigers are also winless on the road, where they have dropped all six of their contests.

We’ll see if the Tigers can build some momentum off of Friday’s SEC win as they dip into the second half of the season.

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Auburn softball receives votes in USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll following Tennessee series

The Tigers remain in top 25 consideration despite dropping its fourth-straight SEC series over the weekend.

Auburn softball dropped its fourth-straight SEC series of the season last week by dropping two of three games to the visiting Tennessee Lady Vols.

Despite the setback, Auburn is still in consideration for a top-25 slot in the latest USA TODAY/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. In week nine’s edition of the poll, Auburn remains in the “receiving votes” category by receiving two votes,

Tennessee fell two spots in this week’s poll despite winning the series at Auburn. The dip was partly due to Duke’s sweep of No. 15 Virginia Tech, which rocketed them to No. 2. LSU also jumped Tennessee in the rankings by sweeping No. 13 Texas A&M.

Ten SEC squads check in to this week’s poll, with Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, and Florida representing the conference in the top 10. Auburn, Ole Miss, and Kentucky are the only three SEC members that did not enter this week’s rankings.

Auburn softball will depart from SEC play this weekend to host the War Eagle Classic. The Tigers will host Louisiana Tech and Georgia Tech as part of the two-day affair that begins Friday at Jane B. Moore Field.

Complete week nine rankings from USA TODAY/NCFA

Rank Team Record Points Last Week
1 Oklahoma 34-1 800 1
2 Duke 29-3 727 5
3 Georgia 29-5 707 3
4 Texas 29-5 678 2
5 LSU 29-4 658 6
6 Tennessee 28-5 652 4
7 Oklahoma State 29-6 642 8
8 Stanford 27-6 599 7
9 Washington 25-5 560 9
10 Florida 31-5 524 10
11 Missouri 29-7 453 12
12 UCLA 20-8 14
13 Texas A&M 28-7 397 11
14 Alabama 26-8 348 13
15 Virginia Tech 25-8-1 318 15
16 Mississippi State 25-9 297 17
17 Clemson 24-10 275 16
18 Florida State 24-9 265 19
19 Arkansas 22-11-1 143 20
20 California 26-10 209 18
21 Arizona 22-11-1 143 20
22 South Carolina 26-10 139 22
23 Boston University 27-3 95 25
24 Oregon 20-12 69 24
25 Baylor 19-12 46 23

Others Receiving Votes

Texas State (38), Kentucky (17), Louisiana (12), Nevada (10), Kansas (9), FAU (8), Miami (8), Virginia (3), Auburn (2).

Dropped Out

None

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Alabama moves down in latest USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll Top 25

A recent series loss to a conference opponent has Alabama softball sliding in the latest USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll

Alabama Crimson Tide softball is having a strong season as the team continues in-conference play against other impressive SEC programs. A recent series loss to the Kentucky Wildcats on the road, split 2-1, led to a slight fall in the latest Coaches Poll.

Up next for head coach Patrick Murphy and the Crimson Tide is a brief homestead against Ole Miss before heading to Birmingham to play a one-game series against Samford. From there, the Crimson Tide will return to Tuscaloosa to face Texas A&M Aggies.

It’s a long season with plenty of opportunities to improve and rise up the rankings, but as things currently stand, Alabama sits at No. 14 and has an overall record of 26-8.

Check out the full USA TODAY/NFCA Softball Coaches Poll.

Rank Team Record Points Prev.
1 Oklahoma 34-1 800 (32) 1
2 Duke 29-3 727 5
3 Georgia 29-5 707 3
4 Texas 29-5 678 2
5 LSU 29-4 658 6
6 Tennessee 28-5 652 4
7 Oklahoma State 29-6 642 8
8 Stanford 27-6 599 7
9 Washington 25-5 560 9
10 Florida 31-5 534 10
11 Missouri 29-7 453 12
12 UCLA 20-8 431 14
13 Texas A&M 28-7 397 11
14 Alabama 26-8 348 13
15 Virginia Tech 25-8-1 318 15
16 Mississippi State 25-9 297 17
17 Clemson 24-10 275 16
18 Florida State 24-9 265 19
19 Arkansas 25-9 261 20
20 California 26-10 209 18
21 Arizona 22-11-1 143 21
22 South Carolina 26-10 139 22
23 Boston University 27-3 95 25
24 Oregon 20-12 69 24
25 Baylor 19-12 46 46

Others Receiving Votes

Texas State (38), Kentucky (17), Louisiana (12), Nevada (10), Kansas (9), FAU (8), Miami (8), Virginia (3), Auburn (2).

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

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Texas A&M baseball continues to rise in newest USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll

Texas A&M has once again risen in the rankings after sweeping the Auburn Tigers

Texas A&M baseball (25-3, 6-3 SEC) continues to live up to its elite preseason billing. It has won five straight games after sweeping the visiting Auburn Tigers last weekend behind the powerful bat of superstar outfielder Braden Montgomery. Freshman Gavin Grahovic also continued his impressive hitting streak.

The Aggies earned the sweep in exciting fashion: Pitching apparently took the night off. The Tigers tied the game in the ninth, sending the game into extra innings. The Aggies won on Ted Burton’s game-winning hit up the middle in the 12th.

Montgomery logged his 16th home run, recorded his 15th multi-RBI game and doubled in the 12th.

The Aggies have the best record in the country, tied with Arkansas and Clemson with just three losses. Their impressive 6-3 SEC record has propelled the program into the No. 3 spot in USA TODAY Sports’ newest Coaches poll.

Texas A&M hits the road to face Texas State for a midweek matchup on Tuesday. The game is available on ESPN+.

Arkansas remains the top-ranked school in the SEC. Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina and Georgia are also ranked.

Here is the top 25:

Rank Team Overall Points (1st) Previous Rank Change
1 Arkansas 23-3 775 (31) 1
2 Clemson 24-3 726 3 +1
3 Texas A&M 25-3 711 4 +1
4 Tennessee 24-5 659 5 +1
5 Oregon State 21-4 619 2 -3
6 Vanderbilt 23-6 588 9 +3
7 North Carolina 25-4 540 11 +4
8 Dallas Baptist 23-4 533 10 +2
9 Florida 16-11 515 6 -3
10 Duke 20-8 488 13 +3
11 Virginia 22-6 417 8 -3
12 Florida State 12-4 392 17 +5
13 East Carolina 20-6 373 16 +3
14 Alabama 21-7 359 18 +4
15 Virginia Tech 21-5 355 15
16 Kentucky 24-4 319 21 +5
17 UC Irvine 22-3 307 19 +2
18 LSU 20-9 229 7 -11
19 South Carolina 21-7 218 14 -5
20 NC State 18-7 167 22 +2
21 Coastal Carolina 20-7 152 20 -1
22 Wake Forest 17-10 151 12 -10
23 Nebraska 20-5 88 NR +7
24 Georgia 22-6 82 24
25 TCU 20-7 61 25

Schools Dropped Out

No. 23 Mississippi State;

Others Receiving Votes

Mississippi State 52; UCF 45; Indiana State 36; Oregon 22; Texas17; Texas Tech 11; Oklahoma State 10; Kansas State 10; Campbell 9; Lamar 8; UC Santa Barbara 6; Louisiana 6; Northeastern 5; Creighton 5; Miami (Florida) 4; St. John’s 3; Louisiana

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Auburn remains unranked in week 7 USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

After falling out of the top 25 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll a few weeks ago, the Tigers continued to plummet in the rankings this week.

After falling out of the top 25 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll a few weeks ago, the Auburn Tigers continued to plummet in the rankings this week. Even though [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag]’s squad failed to receive a ranking in the poll the last few weeks, they did receive some votes to be included.

That was not the case in the newest addition to the poll, as the Tigers fell completely out of consideration for the first time this season. The result is not surprising considering Auburn was swept by No. 3 Texas A&M in College Station over the weekend.

The series loss was the Tigers fourth straight to open the SEC season. The streak has a solid chance of extending to 5-straight series losses when the No. 4 ranked Tennessee Volunteers head to the Plains on Friday for a three-game set.

Auburn is now 16-11 on the season but just 1-8 in SEC play. The Tigers are also winless on the road, where they have dropped all six of their contests.

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Auburn falls out of USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll top 25

The Auburn Tigers have fallen out of this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll rankings following a 2-2 week against South Alabama and top-ranked Arkansas.

The Auburn Tigers have fallen out of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll top 25 rankings following a 2-2 week against South Alabama and No. 1-ranked Arkansas.

After a close 2-1 win over the Jaguars on Tuesday, Auburn lost back-to-back one-run games against the Razorbacks at Plainsman Park. The Tigers were able to win 8-6 in the series finale, but the lost series was ultimately enough to convince the voters to drop the Tigers from the top 25.

The 1-2 weekend series result dropped [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag]’s team to just 1-5 in SEC play to start the season. While the road has been difficult, the results are nonetheless disappointing for an Auburn team that started the season so hot.

The SEC remains one of the toughest conferences in the nation with 11 teams making this week’s rankings. Arkansas remains the country’s best team at No. 1, with Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida, LSU, and Vanderbilt joining the Hogs in the top 10.

Auburn will have an opportunity to claw back into the top 25 when it travels to College Station to take on No. 4 Texas A&M this weekend after a Tuesday contest against Jacksonville State at Plainsman Park.

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Auburn stays put in latest USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll

The Tigers look to gain ground in the coaches poll this weekend by hosting No. 20 Arkansas in a top-25 series at Jane B. Moore Field.

The first weekend of SEC play did not bounce the way Auburn had hoped, as they dropped two of three games to Missouri on the road.

However, the series loss did not affect Auburn’s place in the rankings. They remain the nation’s No. 25 team in this week’s USA TODAY/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Auburn is one of 10 SEC teams residing in this week’s poll. LSU is the SEC’s leader at No. 2 after sweeping No. 23 Kentucky to open SEC play and ran its record to 22-0. Because of the sweep, the Wildcats dropped out of this week’s poll. Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida round out the SEC’s representation in the top 10. The Gators jumped three places to No. 10 after winning two games over Alabama in Tuscaloosa to open SEC play.

Missouri is outside the top 10 at No. 11 and could crack the top 10 next week with a great showing at No. 8 Tennessee this weekend. Texas A&M is next at No. 13 and is poised for a big series this weekend at No. 21 Mississippi State. No. 14 Alabama looks to shake off its series loss to Florida by making a statement at No. 5 Georgia beginning Friday.

The final notable SEC series of the weekend involves Auburn, as the No. 25 Tigers host No. 20 Arkansas for a three-game set at Jane B. Moore Field.

Complete week one rankings from USA TODAY/NCFA

Rank Team Record Points Last Week
1 Oklahoma 22-1 791 1
2 LSU 22-0 769 3
3 Texas 21-2 738 2
4 Oklahoma State 20-3 680 4
5 Georgia 20-3 646 7
6 Duke 19-1 638 6
7 Washington 18-3 617 5
8 Tennessee 18-4 586 8
9 Stanford 18-4 558 9
10 Florida 21-3 490 13
11 Missouri 20-3 466 12
12 Clemson 17-6 415 10
13 Texas A&M 23-2 392 17
14 Alabama 19-3 366 11
15 UCLA 14-6 336 16
16 Florida State 15-5 299 14
17 California 21-4 293 15
18 Virginia Tech 18-3-1 264 20
19 Baylor 14-5 255 19
20 Arkansas 20-5 209 18
21 Mississippi State 19-4 150 24
22 Arizona 19-5-1 106 21
23 South Carolina 18-5 84 22
24 Boston University 17-1 68 NR
25 Auburn 13-4-1 59 25

Others Receiving Votes

Oregon (51), Kentucky (45), Louisiana (16), Texas State (6), Grand Canyon (4), Miami (3).

Dropped Out

No. 23 Kentucky

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