College Baseball Rankings

[Play Angry]

RV in USA Today/Coaches' Poll (T-31). ECU is #18 and UCF is #21.

[SB Shock]

3/19/18

Coaches Poll: T31. WSU
Collegiate Baseball: 26th
NCBA: Receiving votes as 3/12/18
Baseball America: Unranked

Boyd's RPI and ISR first rating will be out on evening of 3/5/18
ISR: 13th - 119.6 (SOS 79)
RPI: 14th

College baseball daily power rankings

1. Wichita State 12-2 Up 16

I’m really starting to buy into this team. And while they haven’t beaten anyone of note, they are winning games.

Butler is going to pull a "Bruce Weber"

[Play Angry]

Shockers broke into Monday's NCBWA poll at #28. Good stuff.

[Wuzee]

Shockers #22 in the D1Baseball Top 25. First appearance in that poll. Still out in the Baseball America poll.

https://d1baseball.com/rankings/d1baseball-top-25-rankings-march-26/

[Play Angry]

#18 in Collegiate Baseball.

[Play Angry]

#23 in USA Today Coaches Poll.

[Kel Varnsen]

Trying to remain cautiously optimistic over here. We will see. But it's great to see us back in the Top 25 for a change.

[WuDrWu]

I love that we're getting recognition. I find it all but impossible to believe it's because of success from 1982-2009ish, but I could be wrong about that.

I do think it helps with believing you're a better team. To me, baseball is more about confidence than any other sport. I feel like I'm seeing that recently with this team. They look like they expect to win, to find a way if needed. That's half the battle. This is a big week. We can get this ball rolling big time, still have some doubts, or take a big step back. Big four games in 6 days away from home. Go Shocks!

[Cdizzle]

I love that we're getting recognition. I find it all but impossible to believe it's because of success from 1982-2009ish, but I could be wrong about that.

I do think it helps with believing you're a better team. To me, baseball is more about confidence than any other sport. I feel like I'm seeing that recently with this team. They look like they expect to win, to find a way if needed. That's half the battle. This is a big week. We can get this ball rolling big time, still have some doubts, or take a big step back. Big four games in 6 days away from home. Go Shocks!

If one looks at the record and any metrics(RPI, SOS, ISR, team stats), I'm not sure how this team isn't 'under'-ranked right now. And that's coming from the giant turd in the kool-aid bowl who still doesn't really think this will hold up.

[WuDrWu]

Well I'm the koolaid guy if there is one, and I don't think we're quite that good. But win 3 of 4 this week and I'll be close to being on board with the ranking.

[Cdizzle]

I guess my point is that I don't think WSU is that good either, but the results to date are the results to date.

I'm starting to feel like this is some sort of voodoo WuDrWu reverse psychology though, where I start arguing against myself that this team is T25 good

[Play Angry]

Sweeping teams (even mediocre ones) consistently in college baseball is really, really hard. So far we've swept McNeese State (RPI 148), Omaha (RPI 195), UTA (RPI 70), and Furman (RPI 91) and have victories over SIU-E (RPI 160), Nebraska x 2 (RPI 87), @ Creighton (RPI 15) and OU (RPI 40). Our losses have come @ Mizzou (RPI 39), @ Creighton (RPI 15), @ ORU (RPI 201) and vs. Nebraska (RPI 87). We've swept 4 weekend series to date and suffered no more than 1 loss in the other two weekend series. We are also a third of the way finished with our regular season and IMO there's not a way to logically argue we aren't deserving of our ranking based on results to date for this season. Reasonable folks can definitely suggest we won't keep up our current pace, but based on our body of work we are definitely a Top 25 team.

Records vs. Groupings for RPI:

Group 1: 2-2
Group 2: 8-1
Group 3: 3-0
Group 4: 4-1


We have one of the best pitching staff in the nation so far (take your choice of metric, ERA, WHIP, K/9, etc.) against an SoS of 48. Our offense is a far cry from 1998 but registers well enough in runs/game, .avg and OPS, and is top decile or close to it in most power categories. If it weren't for the past decade of suck (lol biiiiiig if amirite but stay with me) we'd be clamoring that this is a team that might host a regional based on performance to date.

Now, let's take a look at losses posted by our last two really good teams back in 2007 and 2008:

2007 (48-19, .716) (record and losses below prior to regional play, finished 52-22)

• Pepperdine x 2 in Wichita (RPI 50)
• Oklahoma x 1 in Norman (RPI 26)
• Richmond x1 in Wichita (RPI 118)
• Long Beach State x1 in Wichita (RPI 11)
• Bradley x1 in Wichita (RPI 127)
• ORU x2 in Wichita and Tulsa (RPI 52)
• Creighton x1 in Wichita (RPI 35)
• Kansas State x1 in Wichita (RPI 37)
• Arkansas x1 in Fayetteville (RPI 16)
• Evansville x1 in Wichita (RPI 62)
• Northern Iowa x1 in Waterloo (RPI 175)
• South Alabama x1 in Wichita (RPI 77)
• Fullerton x2 in Wichita (RPI 25)
• Oklahoma State x1 in Wichita (RPI 42)
• Missouri State x1 in Springfield (RPI 115)
• Creighton x1 in Springfield (RPI 35)

Swept 6 of 14 regular season weekend series. We did a really good of job minimizing bad losses this season and were rewarded with a regional host.


2008 (44-15, .746) (record and losses below prior to regional play, finished 48-17)

• Long Beach State x3 in Long Beach (RPI 30)
• Missouri State x1 in Wichita (RPI 53)
• Creighton x1 in Omaha (RPI 93)
• Nebraska x1 in Lincoln (RPI 8)
• Southern Illinois x1 in Wichita (RPI 110)
• Oklahoma State x1 in Stillwater (RPI 12)
• Indiana State x1 in Terre Haute (RPI 143)
• Kansas State x1 in Wichita (RPI 49)
• Oklahoma x1 in Norman (RPI 39)
• Central Arkansas x1 in Wichita (RPI 161)
• Arizona State x1 in Wichita (RPI 5)
• Evansville x1 in Evansville (RPI 275)
• Oral Roberts x1 in Wichita (RPI 41)

Swept 6 of 11 regular season weekend series. We just missed out on hosting a regional due to a late April/May swoon.


Now, 2006 was the last time we were "bubble-in" for a regional. Below is a breakdown for that squad:

2006 (44-20, .688) (record and losses below prior to regional play, finish 46-22)

• Hawaii-Hilo x1 in Hawaii (RPI 252)
• Southern Miss x1 in Mobile, AL (RPI 41)
• Kansas State x1 in Manhattan (RPI 61)
• Southern Illinois x2 in Wichita (RPI 110)
• Arkansas x1 in Wichita (RPI 16)
• Kansas x1 in Lawrence (RPI 31)
• Creighton x3 in Omaha and Wichita (RPI 96)
• Evansville x3 in Evansville and Wichita (RPI 57)
• Oral Roberts x2 in Wichita and Tulsa (RPI 44)
• Oklahoma State x1 in Stillwater (RPI 17)
• Nebraska x1 in Lincoln (RPI 11)
• Illinois State x2 in Normal (RPI 157)
• Northern Iowa x1 in Wichita (RPI 147)

Swept 8 of 14 regular season weekend series. Squeaked in as reportedly the final at-large team in the field.


Here is 2018 to date:

2018 (17-4, .810)

• Nebraska x1 in Wichita (RPI 87)
• Oral Roberts x1 in Tulsa (RPI 201)
• Missouri x1 in Columbia (RPI 39)
• Creighton x1 in Omaha (RPI 15)

Swept 4 of 6 regular season weekend series so far.


Lots (and I mean lots) of variables are not addressed above, but over the first month and a half of the season we've played really tremendous baseball which is comparable to our better teams from the last 15 years. Acknowledging that of course does not mean committing to a prediction that the back two-thirds of the season will mirror the first third in terms of performance - we all hope it does, but the scars of the last few seasons certainly merit a "I'll believe it when I (continue to) see it" stance.

Hopefully we can keep it rolling this week on the road, as this may very well be our most difficult week/series of the season.

[Cdizzle]

Fantastic post, Play Angry

Thanks for compiling some data.

[Play Angry]

Shockers moved up to #22 in yesterday's NCBWA Poll.

[Play Angry]

Utah (4-19 entering tonight) beats #1 Oregon State, 8-7.

Sweeping crappy teams consistently is tough.