Well, that's much more like it.
After a fairly rough 2-3 week two weeks ago, Mississippi State healed some concerns this week with a medicinal 6-0 record. That included two fairly decisive wins over Mount Saint Mary's in the midweek, followed up by four weekend wins split between Eastern Illinois and Michigan State. State pushed its luck a bit in some tight games over the weekend, but wins were achieved, and that is what matters more than stranded runner concerns and other things. With that 6-0 week in the books, let's take a quick look at where MSU landed in this week's edition of Pollwatchin'.
Pollwatchin': Week Three | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Poll | Ranking | Previous | Link | |
Baseball America | 12 | 18 | BA | |
College Baseball Newspaper | 14 | 18 | CBN | |
NCBWA | 12 | 15 | NCBWA | |
Perfect Game | 8 | 10 | PG | |
USA Today/Coaches | 10 | 4 | USAT |
As expected, MSU climbed in nearly every poll after the perfect week. Don't let the USA Today poll fool you - they had not updated it since the preseason, thus the drop for State. Even though these rankings mean essentially nothing, it's nice to see State climb back up a bit towards the top ten where they started the season off. With five games against fairly tough competition this week, there's a good chance that another strong week could push MSU even higher as they get closer to SEC play in several weekends. Other Pollwatchin' notes:
- MSU takes on a 5-5 South Alabama team Wednesday that made some big-time noise this past weekend. The Jaugars, who participated in last summer's Starkville Regional, went to Fayetteville, Arkansas this past weekend and took two of three from #24 Arkansas. That's impressive.
- This week was a rough week for the SEC overall, as Alabama, Texas A&M, Florida, and Arkansas all fell out of the Baseball America poll after tough showings over the weekend. Ole Miss and Kentucky both entered a few polls after really good starts to the year.
- SEC foe South Carolina is the new #1 in a few polls after a 10-0 start to the season. MSU and the Gamecocks will not face off this season.