Anything Can Happen in May: Breaking Down the Final Set of Regular Season NCAA Baseball Rankings
The regular season of college baseball has finally come to a close. After a weekend full of upsets, Monday’s rankings were shaken up one final time before the postseason begins. The one spot that was not disrupted, though? The one seed, of course. The LSU Tigers reign supreme in the top spot for the second week in a row.
The Texas Longhorns disrupted the formerly ACC-dominated top five by replacing Florida State in the second-ranked spot. Despite being in the second-ranked spot under LSU, the Longhorns’ recent victories over Oklahoma last weekend have made them the outright victors of the SEC for the regular season. This week’s conference play will be cutthroat for these two teams. It has been a few weeks since the Longhorns have seen the number one spot, and LSU has only started to get a taste of the glory.
Dropping to the third-ranked slot, the war is over for the North Carolina Tar Heels. After weeks in the fourth-ranked spot, the Heels finally pushed their way into the top three. Taking down now sixth-ranked FSU in back-to-back road games, the Tar Heels showed no mercy; they want to host a regional, and they want that ACC title. The Seminoles, before their series against the Heels, sat in the second-ranked spot, a huge feat for an ACC team. Unfortunately for them, North Carolina was out for blood. An 8-3 and a massive 11-1 wins pushed the Heels just enough over the edge. FSU dropped to the sixth-ranked spot, and the Heels finally can call themselves a top-three team.
With the Heels and Seminoles out of the way, Oregon has claimed a spot in the top five in the fourth-ranked spot. Alabama sits comfortably at five, right above FSU. The top 10 rankings are looking, unsurprisingly, SEC-dominated heading into this conference championship week. With a week of conference play where most teams will play multiple games and multiple teams, anything is bound to happen. Eleventh-ranked Coastal Carolina could knock the Georgia Bulldogs out of the top 10 by Monday if their cards play out right.
