Cumulative Poll (3/1)

[shocks02]

taken from: www.collegebaseballdugout.com

1. Arizona State 9
2. Arizona 16
3. North Carolina 19
4. Mississippi 20
T5. South Carolina 27
T5. Texas 27
7. Vanderbilt 28
8. Miami 33
9. Rice 41
10. Michigan 43
11. UCLA 46
12. Missouri 47
13. Long Beach State 49
14. Wichita State 55
15. San Diego 65
16. Oregon State 66
17. Cal-State Fullerton 69
18. Virginia 70
19. Florida State 73
20. Baylor 78
21. Tulane 83
22. Clemson 90
23. UC-Irvine 94
T24. Kentucky 100
T24. Oklahoma State 100
26. Louisville 104
27. Georgia Tech 107
28. San Diego State 113
29. Pepperdine 114
30. Texas A&M 115
31. Coastal Carolina 121
T32. Southern Miss 124
T32. St. John’s 124
T34. Arkansas 125
T34. Louisiana-Lafayette 125

Polls used

http://collegebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=627294

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top-25-tracker/2008/265652.html

http://www.baseballnews.com/polls/divI/currentpolldivI.htm

http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/poll/

[CharlieHog]

ouch.

http://www.baseballnews.com/polls/divI/currentpolldivI.htm

7th to 23rd

[wxkid23]

They are lucky to be at 23 after that showing this weekend.

[shocks771]

I think that drop in the rankings is probably justified. The thing that I find weird is that Long Beach drops a spot after going 3-1 this week against San Diego and Wichita State.

[ShockerFever]

ouch.

http://www.baseballnews.com/polls/divI/currentpolldivI.htm

7th to 23rd

Not quite as bad as Michigan's 8th to 27th drop.

College baseball rankings are always out there with big jumps and big falls. So this isn't too surprising.

Unfortunately for us, we aren't gonna play a better team for quite a while so it's gonna be difficult to move up a lot.

Way to piss away a good ranking boys!

[SB Shock]

Unfortunately for us, we aren't gonna play a better team for quite a while so it's gonna be difficult to move up a lot.

Quality of opponents is less important than winning in "poll mechanics". WSU has to just win and win alot. Of course after this weekend - that's easier said than done.

[KC Shox]

We should be out of the Top 25 altogether. 1-3 against D1 teams isn't very impressive.

[shockfan89]

The thing that worries me is we really can't blame these losses on hitting. We could have done better with some timely hitting but we hit .308 the last two games with 14 hits and 10 hits respectively. That isn't bad against a very good pitching team like LBSU.

My concern is that our highly touted pitching staff couldn't keep a lead. Friday was just a hard fought game that could have went either way, but Saturday and Sunday we had leads and couldn't hold them. I think we will improve in all areas, and there are worse things than getting swept on the road by a top 10 team our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th D1 games of the season, but I was really hoping we would get a few wins we could look back on in May when we were battling for a national seed.

[shockerball05]

I usually keep mum in situations like these but I feel the need for some reason to put in my opinion.

1. CALM DOWN - Long Beach is a very good team who is very well coached and they simply were more prepared to play this weekend than we were. That being said they by no means have more talent than our guys.

2. Hitters - My biggest gripe is the hitters. True the pitching wasn't up to normal WSU standards this weekend but how many times over the past even 2-3 years have we had to endure someone starting an inning getting on base, moving to scoring position and being stranded? THAT is frustrating to watch, I know these hitters have to be smarter than they show sometimes.

3. Pitching - I have a bit of concern for the pitching. Outside of the obvious 3 starters when all are healthy and on their game we still have the best 1,2,3, punch in the country. The bullpen is my main concern as I'm sure it is with alot of you. I see good things out of Flemming and I think Hoch will come around and be a guy for us. Smith has shown what he can do and all he has to do is prove he can go out and consistently be a bulldog. After that, I would say the bullpen is sketchy. I like Andy Womack, but I was not sold on the year he had last year, he has started off shaky this year and I hope he can return to the form he had last year during the last month and a half or so. Khol Nanney has the potential to be a serious help in the bullpen but has never been reliable. I will trust our pitching guru however that he will shape up the pitching staff and we will see the usual pitching we are used to.

4. Again I say relax, this is a young talented group of guys with ALOT of baseball to be played. Give them some time to get some real games under their belts and I think we will all be satisfied.

GO SHOX!!! :wsu_posters: :posterwu: