College Top 25: March 23

Cal State Fullerton claims No. 1 ranking

Staff Report
March 23, 2009

DURHAM, N.C.—The top of Baseball America's Top 25 rankings changed hands again this week, as Cal State Fullerton ascended to No. 1 for the first time this season.

The Titans claimed the top spot after sweeping Oral Roberts over the weekend, their third weekend series sweep of the season. Following Fullerton up the rankings are Louisiana State, Arizona State and Rice, each of whom jumped three spots to Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively. LSU won a series on the road at South Carolina, Arizona State swept in-state rival Arizona and Rice took two of three from Southern Mississippi.

There was plenty of movement outside the Top 10 as well, including Arkansas jumping two spots to No. 16 after sweeping Auburn on the road. Texas Christian also moved up two places after winning a midweek game over No. 25 Minnesota and its weekend series at Utah. Texas A&M suffered the biggest fall, dropping all the way from No. 3 to No. 15 after going 1-5 on the week.

New Mexico and East Carolina joined the rankings for the first time in 2009. The Lobos posted a 6-0 week that included a pair of midweek wins over Texas A&M to come in at No. 21. It's the first ranking for New Mexico since 1985. Meanwhile, ECU swept Central Florida to finish off a perfect 5-0 week and earn its way into the rankings at No. 22.

The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of March 22 and do not include ties.

Rk.	Team	W-L	Last Week	Prev.
1.	Cal State Fullerton	16-3	3-0	4
2.	Louisiana State	17-5	4-1	5
3.	Arizona State	17-3	3-0	6
4.	Rice	14-6	4-1	7
5.	North Carolina	17-4	3-2	2
6.	Georgia	19-2	4-0	8
7.	Miami	18-4	4-1	11
8.	Baylor	14-5	4-1	9
9.	Texas	14-6	0-4	1
10.	UC Irvine	12-6	2-1	10
11.	Mississippi	15-5	4-1	12
12.	Oklahoma	20-5	3-1	13
13.	Georgia Tech	16-2	4-1	14
14.	Arkansas	16-4	4-1	16
15.	Texas A&M	14-9	1-5	3
16.	Texas Christian	13-6	3-2	18
17.	Pepperdine	16-6	5-1	17
18.	Coastal Carolina	18-4	3-2	15
19.	Cal Poly	14-4	3-0	21
20.	UC Santa Barbara	12-4	3-2	22
21.	New Mexico	22-3	6-0	NR
22.	East Carolina	16-4	5-0	NR
23.	Oklahoma State	15-7	2-3	19
24.	Virginia	19-2	4-2	23
25.	Minnesota	13-6	3-3	25
Dropped Out: Clemson (20), Alabama (24)