College Top 25: May 4

Florida is on the rise

Staff Report
May 4, 2009

UC Irvine swept Big West Conference foe Cal State Northridge over the weekend to improve to 14-1 in league play and stay atop the Baseball America Top 25 rankings for the third straight week.

Louisiana State moved up two spots to No. 3, leapfrogging No. 4 North Carolina, which was off for exams. The Tigers went on the road and took two of three from No. 17 Arkansas to stay in a tie with No. 7 Mississippi atop the Southeastern Conference's Western Division. For their part, the Rebels went on the road and swept Auburn for their third straight conference series win. Kansas State moved into the top 10 thanks to a series win against Oklahoma State.

Florida made by far the biggest jump in this week's rankings. The Gators have been in and out of the rankings all season, but they made a major statement this past weekend by going on the road to then-No. 11 Georgia and sweeping the Bulldogs. Florida has won eight straight to take over first place in the SEC East. The Bulldogs, who have lost six straight games, dropped all the way to No. 22.

Texas A&M was another squad that made a sizable leap, as the Aggies moved up six spots to No. 14 thanks to a 3-1 week that included a midweek win over No. 15 Texas Christian.

Two teams rejoined the rankings this week. Kansas returns at No. 23 after winning a series on the road against then-No. 9 Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Oregon State bounced back from a losing its last two series to win at home against Arizona State, which slid from No. 3 to No. 5.

The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of May 3 and do not include ties.

Rk.	Team	W-L	Last Week	Prev.
1.	UC Irvine	34-11	4-0	1
2.	Rice	31-11	3-1	2
3.	Louisiana State	36-12	3-1	5
4.	North Carolina	35-11	0-0	4
5.	Arizona State	33-11	2-2	3
6.	Cal State Fullerton	32-12	3-1	6
7.	Mississippi	36-13	4-1	7
8.	Texas	33-11	4-0	8
9.	Georgia Tech	31-11	3-0	10
10.	Kansas State	35-11	4-0	16
11.	Florida	34-14	3-0	24
12.	Cal Poly	32-12	3-2	13
13.	Virginia	35-9	1-0	14
14.	Texas A&M	31-16	3-1	20
15.	Texas Christian	29-13	2-1	15
16.	Florida State	33-12	3-0	19
17.	Arkansas	31-14	2-2	12
18.	Oklahoma	34-14	1-3	9
19.	Miami	31-16	2-2	18
20.	Clemson	32-16	2-1	21
21.	Alabama	32-15	3-0	22
22.	Georgia	33-15	0-4	11
23.	Kansas	33-16	4-1	NR
24.	East Carolina	35-14	3-1	25
25.	Oregon State	27-12	3-1	NR
Dropped Out: Baylor (17), Kent State (23)