College Top 25: March 24

Missouri On The Move

Staff Report
March 24, 2008

DURHAM, N.C.—Arizona State, which notched a pair of wins over Top 10 opponents, remains on top of the Baseball America Top 25 Rankings, but there was plenty of movement elsewhere as three teams moved up in the Top 5.

After winning a hard-fought midweek game against rival Arizona in a battle between the country's No. 1 and 2 teams, the Sun Devils followed up with a 4-1 weekend that included a victory over UC Irvine. The Wildcats fell to No. 6 after dropping their series to Southern California over the weekend as well. Missouri moved up to No. 2 after dominating Baylor over the weekend. The Tigers shut out Baylor twice and outscored the Bears by a combined 22-2 margin.

Miami, which posted a 4-0 week, and Long Beach State, which swept UCLA, both moved into the Top 5 for the first time. Meanwhile, UCLA, which was ranked No. 1 in the preseason, continued to fall down the rankings. The sweep at the hands of Long Beach State dropped the Bruins' overall record to 10-8 and caused them slide all the way to No. 23.

Florida made its season debut in the rankings at No. 24, replacing East Carolina. The Gators continued their strong start by winning a midweek game against Florida State, then winning a series on the road against SEC foe Mississippi, then ranked eighth. The Gators improved their record to 17-4 and 5-1 in the SEC.

The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of March 23 and do not include ties.

COLLEGE TOP 25
Rk.	Team	W-L	Last Week	Prev.
1.	Arizona State	22-1	5-1	1
2.	Missouri	18-2	5-0	4
3.	North Carolina	18-4	4-1	3
4.	Miami	17-2	4-0	6
5.	Long Beach State	16-3	4-0	7
6.	Arizona	13-5	1-3	2
7.	UC Irvine	16-2	2-1	9
8.	Florida State	19-2	3-1	10
9.	Vanderbilt	14-6	2-2	5
10.	South Carolina	15-5	4-0	13
11.	California	15-4	2-2	12
12.	Rice	17-6	5-0	15
13.	Texas	16-6	4-1	18
14.	San Diego	16-7	4-0	19
15.	Mississippi	15-8	2-3	8
16.	Wichita State	14-3	3-0	20
17.	Stanford	9-5	1-1	17
18.	Kentucky	20-2	2-2	16
19.	Nebraska	17-3	3-1	22
20.	Baylor	13-7	0-3	14
21.	Virginia	19-4	5-0	24
22.	Coastal Carolina	18-4	3-2	21
23.	UCLA	10-8	0-3	11
24.	Florida	17-4	3-1	NR
25.	Michigan	9-6	1-0	25
Dropped Out: East Carolina (23).