LSU Gold

Feb. 18 Baseball National Rankings, Report

by Bill Franques
Team Stats LSU 17, Air Force 5 LSU 6, Army 5 LSU 12, ULM 7 Tickets +0
Feb. 18 Baseball National Rankings, Report

Overall Record: 3-0

Last Week’s Results (3-0)
Feb. 15 (Fri.) – LOUISIANA-MONROE (W, 12-7)
Feb. 16 (Sat.) – ARMY (W, 6-5)
Feb. 17 (Sun.) – AIR FORCE (W, 17-5)

This Week’s Schedule
Feb. 19 (Tue.) – SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, NOW 4 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
Feb. 20 (Wed.) – at Northwestern State, 6 p.m. CT (ESPN+)
Feb. 22 (Fri.) – BRYANT, 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
Feb. 23 (Sat.) – BRYANT, 3 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)
Feb. 24 (Sun.) – BRYANT, 2 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)

Notes on the Tigers
Top-ranked LSU opened the 2019 season with three straight victories over Louisiana-Monroe, Army and Air Force … the games drew a total attendance figure of 35,463, which was the largest three-game total for a season-opening weekend in the history of Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field … senior outfielder Antoine Duplantis led LSU to three straight wins in the Tigers’ season-opening weekend by batting .385 (5-for-13) with one double, two homers, 10 RBI and four runs scored … in Friday’s 12-7 win over Louisiana-Monroe, Duplantis blasted a two-run homer in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie, and after ULM knotted the game 7-7 in the top of the eighth, he launched a grand slam in the bottom of the inning to highlight a five-run outburst … the grand slam was the second of Duplantis’ career; the first came on April 22, 2016, versus Mississippi State … in the Tigers’ 17-5 win over Air Force on Sunday, Duplantis was 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, three RBI and two runs scored … Duplantis now has 273 career hits, 79 shy of matching former LSU first baseman Eddy Furniss (1995-98) as the all-time SEC hits leader with 352 … freshman right-hander Jaden Hill enjoyed a tremendous collegiate debut on Sunday against Air Force, defeating the Falcons by allowing just one run on four hits in five innings with one walk and eight strikeouts … Hill struck out the first three batters he faced in the top of the first inning and limited Air Force to just a double and three singles over the course of the five-inning outing, which was composed of 71 pitches (44 for strikes) … junior shortstop Josh Smith got off to a torrid start over the weekend, batting .667 (8-for-12) with two doubles, two RBI and six runs scored … sophomore leftfielder Daniel Cabrera batted .500 (5-for-10) in three games with two homers, six RBI and four runs scored … in Friday’s win over ULM, Cabrera launched two homers, marking the first multi-HR game of his career … Cabrera also produced a career-high five RBI in Friday’s contest … the Tigers hit .349 (47-for-106) as a team over the weekend with nine doubles, six homers and 35 runs scored … all nine doubles came in the Tigers’ 17-5 win over Air Force on Sunday, just one double shy of the school record of 10 set on March 22, 1998, versus Arkansas … among the hitting highlights over the weekend was a three-run, walk-off home run by freshman first baseman Cade Beloso on Saturday versus Army … LSU entered the ninth inning trailing 5-3, but the first two Tiger hitters drew walks and Beloso launched the first pitch he saw into the right-field bleachers to give LSU the victory … the walk-off HR was LSU’s first since April 15, 2018, when Daniel Cabrera accomplished the feat versus Tennessee.

Collegiate Baseball Top 30

Rank, Team (Record), Points, Previous
1. LSU (3-0), 494, 1
2. Vanderbilt (2-1), 492, 2
3. UCLA (3-0), 490, 3
4. Texas Tech. (2-1), 487, 4
5. Stanford (3-0), 484, 5
6. Florida (3-0), 482, 6
7. Oregon St. (3-0), 479, 7
8. North Carolina (3-0), 476, 8
9. Florida St. (4-0), 473, 10
10. Coastal Carolina (3-0), 472, 12
11. Georgia (3-0), 471, 13
12. Louisville (1-2), 468, 9
13. Mississippi (1-1), 466, 11
14. Texas (2-1), 464, 14
15. Clemson (2-1), 462, 15
16. Texas Christian (2-1), 461, 19
17. Cal. St. Fullerton (2-1), 460, 18
18. Oklahoma St. (2-1), 457, 16
19. Georgia Tech. (2-1), 455, 17
20. Duke (3-0), 453, 20
21. Baylor (4-0), 450, 21
22. N.C. State (3-0), 447, 22
23. Arkansas (3-0), 445, 25
24. Arizona (4-0), 443, 26
25. Mississippi St. (3-0), 440, 27
26. Auburn (2-1), 439, 23
27. Connecticut (2-1), 438, 32
28. Texas A&M (3-0), 435, 29
29. Southern Mississippi (3-0), 434, 30
30. Miami, Fla. (3-0), 431, 33

Baseball America Top 25

Rank, Team, Record, Previous
1, Vanderbilt, 2-1, 1
2, LSU, 3-0, 2
3, UCLA, 3-0, 3
4, Florida, 3-0, 4
5, North Carolina, 3-0, 5
6, Florida State, 4-0, 6
7, Stanford, 3-0, 7
8, Texas Tech, 2-1, 8
9, Mississippi State, 3-0, 9
10, Oregon State, 3-0, 10
11 East Carolina, 3-0, 12
12 Louisville, 1-2, 11
13, Ole Miss, 1-1, 13
14, Clemson, 2-1, 14
15, Georgia, 3-0, 15
16, Baylor, 4-0, 16
17 Arkansas, 3-0, 18
18 Auburn, 2-1, 17
19, Texas, 2-1, 19
20, Michigan, 3-0, 20
21, Southern Miss, 3-0, 21
22, Duke, 3-0, 22
23, Coastal Carolina, 3-0, 23
24, TCU, 2-1, 24
25, UC Irvine, 2-1, 25

D1Baseball.com Top 25

Rank, Team, Record, Previous
1, Vanderbilt, 2-1, 1
2, LSU, 3-0, 2
3, Texas Tech, 2-1, 3
4, UCLA, 3-0, 5
5, Florida, 3-0, 6
6, North Carolina, 3-0, 7
7, Oregon State, 3-0, 8
8, Louisville, 1-2, 4
9, Georgia, 3-0, 9
10, Ole Miss, 1-1, 10
11, East Carolina, 3-0, 11
12, Stanford, 3-0, 12
13, Florida State, 4-0, 13
14, Mississippi State, 3-0, 14
15, Baylor, 4-0, 15
16, Arkansas, 3-0, 16
17, Michigan, 3-0, 17
18, TCU, 2-1, 19
19, Oklahoma State, 2-1, 18
20, Wake Forest, 2-1, 20
21, Coastal Carolina, 3-0, 21
22, Auburn, 2-1, 22
23, Texas, 2-1, 23
24, Clemson, 2-1, 24
25, Cal State Fullerton, 2-1, 25

Dropped Out: None

2019 NCBWA DIVISION I POLL (FEB. 18)

Rank, School, Conference, Record, Previous
1. LSU, SEC, 3-0, 2
2. Vanderbilt, SEC, 2-1, 1
3. UCLA, Pac-12, 3-0, 4
4. Florida, SEC, 3-0, 6
5. Oregon State, Pac-12, 3-0, 5
6. Texas Tech, Big 12, 2-1, 3
7. North Carolina, ACC, 3-0, 7
8. Stanford, Pac-12, 3-0, 8
9. Florida State, ACC, 4-0, 10
10. Georgia, SEC, 3-0, 12
11. East Carolina, American Athletic, 3-0, 14
12. Mississippi State, SEC, 3-0, 13
13. Arkansas, SEC, 3-0, 15
14. Louisville, ACC, 1-2, 9
15. Baylor, Big 12, 4-0, 16
16. Ole Miss, SEC, 1-1, 11
17. Clemson, ACC, 2-1, 17
18. TCU, Big 12, 2-1, 21
19. Coastal Carolina, Sun Belt, 3-0, 22
20. Texas, Big 12, 2-1, 18
21. Michigan, Big Ten, 3-0, 23
22. Auburn, SEC, 2-1, 19
23. Oklahoma State, Big 12, 2-1, 20
24. Cal State Fullerton, Big West, 2-1, 24
25. Duke, ACC, 3-0, 25
26. Southern Miss, Conference USA, 3-0, 26
27. Wake Forest, ACC, 2-1, 28
28. UC Irvine, Big West, 2-1, 29
29. N.C. State, ACC, 3-0, 30
30. Arizona, Pac-12, 4-0, 32

Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Abilene Christian (1-2), Arizona State (3-0), Boston College (3-0), Charlotte (3-0), UConn (2-1), Creighton (3-0), Dallas Baptist (3-0), Davidson (3-0), Elon (3-0), Florida Atlantic (3-0), Georgia Tech (43497), Illinois (3-0), Louisiana Tech (3-0), Miami (2-2), Milwaukee (3-0), Minnesota (1-2), Missouri State (0-3), Oklahoma (3-0), Oral Roberts (3-0), Oregon (1-2), Saint Mary’s (3-0), Sam Houston State (2-1), Tennessee Tech (3-0), Texas A&M (3-0), UC Riverside (1-3), UNCW (3-1), Virginia Tech (3-0).
Dropped out: Minnesota (27).