NCAA Baseball Week 14 Poll

Tennessee has had a season that is nothing short of astounding. Spearheaded by great pitching, both in quality and in depth, they have managed to shut down offenses all over the country. Offenses that have made a habit of posting big numbers, mind you.

Over the weekend, Tennessee closed out their regular season by sweeping Mississippi State. Fireballer Ben Joyce threw 31 pitches over 100 mph. Fourteen of these were over 103 mph. Batters, not just at college but at any level, rarely face that kind of mustard. Sure there are pitchers all over MLB who can comfortably throw high-90s all day, and they might even poke their head into triple digits from time to time. But to throw half the number of pitches that you throw at that speed is remarkable. He set the NCAA fastest pitch record, not once, but twice this season.

The Vols aren’t a one-trick pony though. Their bullpen has depth to it. As a collective, they have thrown below a 2.50 ERA this season. Chase Dollander threw six no-hit innings in Tennessee’s 27-2 trouncing of the Bulldogs and was named SEC pitcher of the year.

And this brings up the subject of Tennessee’s offense. It has been effervescent. They have outscored their opponents four to one all season. And this in the Southeastern Conference, widely considered to be one of the toughest conferences in NCAA baseball. Against teams like Ole Miss, LSU, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M, teams that can really put up big numbers on a pitcher, the Volunteers stood head-and-shoulders above the crowd. They scored 526 runs this season. The next best was LSU at 456 runs, and the Tigers were widely accepted to be able to score pretty much at will.

Out in the Pac-12, things weren’t so straightforward for Stanford, but with a strong finish to the season, and a little bit of luck in the form of a UCLA win at Oregon State, the Cardinal clinched the division.

Widely predicted to take the Pac-12 at the start of the season, things looked a little shaky through April when Stanford dropped a game to Oregon State and then another to Saint Mary’s in quick succession. The rest of the month was up and down, with Stanford winning series but dropping games to UCLA and Grand Canyon before losing the away series at Washington.

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Since the start of May, though, they righted the ship and swept all comers, winning eleven straight games. It started with a single game victory at home against UC Davis, followed by a home series sweep against Cal. They travelled up to San Francisco to defeat USF, then visited Utah where they swept the Utes. A road stop-off in Santa Clara saw them win big, and then they finished up the season with a sweep of USC at home. Combining this dazzling run with the UCLA Bruins taking two games off of the Oregon State Beavers over the weekend, there was enough momentum to see the Cardinal on top of the Pacific coast.

This is the second to last top 25 for the college baseball season, since we are one week away from Selection Monday and the road to Omaha. Here is how it all shakes out.

Week 14 NCAA Division I Baseball Top Twenty Five

1. Tennessee (49-7)
2. Virginia Tech (40-11)
3. Stanford (37-14)
4. Oregon State (41-13)
5. Texas A&M (35-17)
6. Miami (39-16)
7. Louisville (38-16-1)
8. Texas Tech (36-18)
9. Oklahoma State (36-18)
10. Maryland (44-10)
11. Texas State (44-11)
12. Gonzaga (34-15)
13. Arkansas (38-16)
14. Southern Mississippi (41-14)
15. Virginia (38-15)
16. Notre Dame (33-13)
17. UC Santa Barbara (40-12)
18. TCU (35-18)
19. Texas (39-17)
20. UCLA (35-20)
21. LSU (37-18)
22. Oklahoma (33-20)
23. East Carolina (38-18)
24. Auburn (37-18)
25. Grand Canyon (39-17)