Top 25 Teams Rebound, AJ Russell Returns Early From Elbow Surgery

Image credit: Justin Lebron (Mike Janes/Four Seam Images)

We’re back with another look around college baseball to highlight 10 standout moments and results from the midweek slate of games.

SEE THE LIST

How Top 25 Teams Fared

Top 25 teams in the first full week of the season scuffled in midweek contests, going a combined 9-7. The group dramatically improved this week with a 22-6 record, which included one Top 25 showdown between No. 3 LSU and No. 18 Dallas Baptist (LSU won 7-3).

No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 15 Mississippi State, No. 17 Duke (twice), No. 18 Dallas Baptist and No. 22 NC State were responsible for the six Top 25 defeats.

Here’s the complete breakdown of Top 25 performances this week. Note that North Carolina’s Monday game against East Carolina, which was a continuation of their weekend series, is not included below.

Team	Results
No. 1 Texas A&M	7-3 loss to Texas State
No. 2 Tennessee	7-5 win over North Alabama
No. 3 LSU	13-3 win over Nicholls; 7-3 win over No. 18 Dallas Baptist
No. 4 Arkansas	14-3 win over Grambling State
No. 5 Florida State	9-6 win over Jacksonville
No. 6 Florida	6-1 win over Stetson; 7-6 win over North Florida
No. 7 Clemson	20-7 win over Winthrop
No. 8 Virginia	6-4 win over Virginia Military Institute
No. 9 North Carolina	9-4 win over VCU; 13-4 win over North Carolina A&T
No. 10 Georgia	7-3 win over Georgia State
No. 12 Texas	6-0 win over Incarnate Word
No. 13 Vanderbilt	16-3 win over Tennessee Tech
No 14 Wake Forest	9-6 win over Elon
No. 15 Mississippi State	6-5 loss to Troy
No. 16 Oklahoma State	6-0 win over Abilene Christian
No. 17 Duke	9-6 loss to Campbell; 12-4 loss to Liberty
No. 18 Dallas Baptist	7-3 loss to No. 3 LSU
No. 20 UC Irvine	8-4 win over Utah Tech
No. 21 UCSB	13-2 win over Pepperdine
No 22 NC State	5-1 loss to Richmond
No. 23 Kentucky	24-3 win over Evansville; 8-2 win over Morehead State
No. 24 TCU	4-2 win over Tarleton State
No. 25 Alabama	20-11 win over Jacksonville State

Several teams that BA views as just outside of the Top 25 also performed very well. Oklahoma (15-4 and 5-4 wins over Texas Southern), Troy (6-5 win over No. 15 Mississippi State; 7-4 win over UAB) and Ole Miss (15-8 win over Southern Miss) were among those who made a strong impression and could round off their case for a ranking with strong weekends.

Ryan Rembisz Throws A Perfect Game

Portland senior lefty Ryan Rembisz made history on Tuesday night when he threw the 21st nine-inning perfect game in Division I history (since 1959), striking out 12 and needing just 90 pitches to complete the outing against Seattle.

BA spoke to Rembisz shortly after his outing and you can read about that here.

AJ Russell Returns To The Mound Eight Months After Elbow Surgery

Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello knew his pitching staff would receive an important in-season boost whenever righty AJ Russell returned to action after undergoing elbow surgery in June. The question was just when. Vitello before the season told Baseball America that he didn’t expect Russell back until the second half of the year, but left the door open to shorter and longer timelines.

The Volunteers received a pleasant surprise when it became clear that Russell had progressed fast enough to make his season debut much earlier than anticipated. Rather than wait for the halfway point of the season, the righty took the mound for an inning against North Alabama on Tuesday.

The owner of one of the 2025 draft’s most unique fastballs, Russell threw a total of 17 pitches (11 fastballs and six sliders), sat 93-95 mph and twice grabbed 97. The top 100 draft prospect logged three strikeouts in his lone inning of work and faced the minimum.

It’s not clear when Russell might make his next appearance, and Tennessee is certain to continue to handle him cautiously for the foreseeable future.

Florida-Stetson Produces First Notable Runner’s Base Controversy

This season marks the first in which the NCAA is rolling out wide usage of the double first base, a safety measure BA has covered extensively over the last several months, which you can read about here.

As with any new rule, this one was sure to drum up at least some confusion and controversy. And it didn’t take long.

In the bottom of the eighth inning of a meeting between Stetson and No. 6 Florida, umpires initially ruled Stetson catcher Salvador Alvarez safe at first base after he beat out a throw that allowed the Hatters to score a two-out, game-tying run. However, the Gators challenged the play, arguing that Alvarez never touched the runner’s bag, which is to be treated as missing first base entirely, according to the NCAA rule book:

“If there is a play on the batter-runner and the batter-runner clearly touches only the white portion of the double base, it is treated the same as missing the base. If this failure to touch the proper base occurs during a close play and the batter-runner has not passed the base with both feet, the batter-runner should be called out. If the batter-runner clearly beats the throw to first base but misses the base and has both feet on the ground beyond the back edge of the base, the batter-runner would be called out if the defense appeals prior to the batter-runner returning to first base. The proper mechanic is for the umpire to make no call on this play as the batter-runner has not yet touched first base.”

The confusion began when the officiating crew overturned its initial safe call, wiping the run off the board and ending the inning. Stetson, which played the remainder of the game under protest, argued that there was not enough video evidence to justify changing the call on the field.

If the Hatters’ protest is successful, Florida and Stetson would need to restart the game from that point in the seventh inning with two outs, a runner on first and a tied 2-2 ball game.

Northern Kentucky Out Slugs Dayton Behind 1B Gabe Miranda

Picked by Baseball America to be the Horizon League’s lone NCAA Tournament bid, Northern Kentucky had gotten off to somewhat of a sluggish start this year. The Norse were swept in a season-opening, three-game series at East Tennessee State but have since shown signs of avoiding a longer rut thanks to four straight wins, including a Tuesday night 16-14 victory over Dayton.

With both teams’ pitching struggling to record outs, it was Northern Kentucky’s offense that was responsible for carrying the load. First baseman Gabe Miranda led the charge.

A transfer from TCU, Miranda on Tuesday went 2-for-4 with two home runs, three RBIs and three runs scored, improving his already-impressive start to the year. A third-year sophomore, Miranda enters week three batting .385 with four home runs, 14 RBIs and more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five).

North Carolina First Baseman Continues Season-Opening Tear

North Carolina first baseman Hunter Stokely has been unrelenting at the plate to open his senior campaign. He enters weekend with the team lead in hits, RBIs, home runs and slugging percentage.

Stokely’s hot start carried into the Tar Heels’ three games this week, as he went 6-for-12 with three home runs, five RBIs and six runs scored. He’s also struck out just once in his last 17 at-bats.

The Tar Heels are off to a 9-0 start and will look to keep their winning streak alive this weekend at home against Stony Brook.

13-Run Inning Lifts No. 25 Alabama Over Jacksonville State

Alabama entered Baseball America’s rankings for the first time this season after winning its first eight games, including five last week.

The Crimson Tide again broke out their impressive offense this week to improve to 9-0 when they bested Jacksonville State 20-11 on Tuesday night on the back of an explosive, 13-run second inning that marked their largest run total in a single frame since 2019.

Alabama’s offensive burst was due in part to shortstop Justin Lebron, who enters the weekend against North Dakota State as one of the hottest hitters in the nation. Over his last two games, the sophomore is 5-for-11 with four home runs, 11 RBIs, six runs scored and a stolen base.

LSU Arms Power Tigers To Win Over No. 18 Dallas Baptist

Week three’s lone Top 25 midweek matchup didn’t disappoint, as LSU and Dallas Baptist fought a close battle at Globe Life Field on Wednesday evening.

The Tigers impressed on the mound, where starter Conner Ware and reliever Zac Cowan combined to strike out 11 in seven innings while allowing just two earned runs.

Transfer talent was also at the forefront of LSU’s winning effort against the Patriots. Ware (Pearl River CC), Cowan (Wofford) and infielder Daniel Dickinson (Utah Valley), who homered on Wednesday, are all in their first year with the Tigers.

The victory marked LSU’s first of the year against a Top 25 foe.

Early Season Woes Continue For Duke & NC State

As BA has outlined previously, it’s typically ill-advised to put much stock into midweek results. The one-off games tend to have very little influence in postseason-related decisions and often have very little competitive meaning, as low- and mid-major teams regularly punch up to take on a power-conference opponent.

But an 0-2 showing from No. 17 Duke and a solo loss from No. 22 NC State felt reasonably difficult to ignore. Duke, which opened its campaign with an upset series loss to unranked Cincinnati, suffered a 9-6 loss to Campbell and 12-4 loss to Liberty this week to drop to 4-5 on the year. NC State, which was swept in all games last week, lost 5-1 to Richmond, marking its fifth-straight defeat.

Both teams will need to put together standout weekend performances to hang onto Top 25 spots next week.

14 Hitters Enter The Weekend With Five-Plus Homers

This isn’t necessarily a midweek-specific takeaway, but with several players joining the list on Tuesday and Wednesday, it seemed pertinent.

BA has covered the gaudy exit velocity numbers in the first few weeks of the college season and how they’re entering a territory even MLB hitters are struggling to keep pace with. Those intense exit velocities have, of course, led to big home runs totals, too.

As of Feb. 27, 14 Division I hitters have already blasted at least five home runs with four—Alabama’s Justin Lebron, Maryland’s Alex Calarco, UC Santa Barbara’s Jack Holman and New Mexico State’s Sheehan O’Connor—tied atop the national leaderboard with six.

Plenty of players could join that list, too, as 32 hitters have left the yard at least four times and 146 have hit at least three.

Latest Stories

Minors

Reds’ Leo Balcazar Makes Strides In 2025

It took time for Leo Balcazar to fully recover from the torn ACL he suffered in 2023, but he made progress this year with his overall mobility, production and versatility.