With the college baseball conference tournaments already underway, these rankings take into account the full regular season performances of the top teams. This may have been one of the more interesting college baseball regular seasons in recent memory, with some of the usual favorites coming in struggling and not even being ranked at times. That includes Mississippi State, the defending College World Series champions, not even qualifying for the SEC Tournament. Since the regular season is over, this will be the final rankings from yours truly. That does not mean the college baseball content will stop, though, as we will continue to provide the latest on the conference tournaments and as the College World Series approaches.
Be sure to catch up on the previous college baseball rankings: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12
1. Tennessee (49-7, 25-5)
Tennessee didn’t come into the season as a favorite to win the College World Series, as they came in ranked 19th by D1Baseball.com. In the first edition of our rankings, we had them ranked number eight, but they had yet to play a strong opponent. They proved to everyone it wasn’t a fluke and continued to crush opponents all season. The Volunteers are the favorite to bring it home, but there is still baseball to be played. They will not show up expecting to win it all, they are going to have to earn it.
Previous Ranking: 1
2. Virginia Tech (40-11, 19-9)
The Hokies ended the regular season with a sweep over Duke and earned the first seed in the ACC Tournament. They will face 12th-seeded Clemson on Thursday and then eighth-seeded North Carolina on Friday. Virginia Tech didn’t play Clemson in the regular season but did win their series over North Carolina.
Previous Ranking: 2
3. Stanford (37-14, 21-9)
Stanford ended their regular season with a sweep as well, over USC, and will face Arizona State in the Pac-12 Tournament starting on Wednesday. The Cardinal was ranked number two in our initial rankings, and pretty much stayed around that ranking all year.
Previous Ranking: 3
4. Gonzaga (34-15, 20-7)
Unranked to start the year, Gonzaga took the country and West Coast Conference by storm. Head Coach Mark Machtolf was named the conference’s Coach of the Year and third baseman Cade McGee won the Freshman of the Year for the conference, the second every Zag to win the award. He led the team with seven homers to go with 27 RBI and 29 runs scored.
Previous Ranking: 4
5. Maryland (44-10, 18-5)
After finishing the regular season with two wins over Purdue, the Terps locked up the first seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Maryland will begin the tournament on Wednesday against eighth-seeded Indiana. Head coach Rob Vaughn was named Big Ten Coach of the Year and Chris “Bubba” Alleyne was named Big Ten Player of the Year for Maryland.
Previous Ranking: 7
6. Texas A&M (35-17, 19-11)
The Aggies won their series over Ole Miss to close out the regular season and took the second seed in the SEC Tournament. They will begin action on Wednesday against the loser of the Florida-South Carolina matchup from Tuesday evening.
Previous Ranking: 10
7. Miami (39-16, 20-10)
The Hurricanes took a big series win over Notre Dame to end the regular season and will be the three-seed in the ACC Tournament. They head Pool C and will face NC State on Wednesday.
Previous Ranking: 11
8. Notre Dame (33-13, 16-11)
After losing their series to Miami, the Irish will head Pool D as the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament. They will face Florida State to begin their play in the tournament on Thursday. Notre Dame was up and down all season, but overall they were still one of the best teams in the ACC. Back at the beginning of April, they swept Florida State to really put the conference on notice, which was the start of a nine-game winning streak.
Previous Ranking: 6
9. Texas State (44-11, 26-4)
Texas State has a legitimate shot to make some noise in the postseason as one of the top non-power five conference teams, along with Gonzaga. They will play their first game of the Sun Belt Tournament on Wednesday against either No. 8 Little Rock, No. 9 App State or No. 10 ULM.
Previous Ranking: 16
10. Texas Tech (36-18, 15-9)
Texas Tech ended the regular season with a series loss to Oklahoma, but have been a top ten team almost all season. They are the second seed in the Big 12 Tournament, with TCU taking the first seed. The Red Raiders will face Kansas State on Wednesday.
Previous Ranking: 8
11. UCLA (35-20, 19-11)
After faltering early on in the season, the Bruins have been proving myself and others wrong each week. They ended the regular season with another big conference series win, over Oregon State. UCLA will face Cal to begin action in the Pac-12 Tournament.
Previous Ranking: 19
12. UConn (43-13, 16-5)
Previous Ranking: 5
13. Florida State (32-22, 15-15)
Previous Ranking: 9
14. Virginia (38-15, 17-13)
Previous Ranking: 13
15. UC Santa Barbara (40-12, 24-3)
Previous Ranking: 17
16. Southern Mississippi (41-14, 23-7)
Previous Ranking: 18
17. Vanderbilt (35-19, 14-16)
Previous Ranking: 12
18. Oklahoma State (36-18, 15-9)
Previous Ranking: 20
19. Oklahoma (33-20, 15-9)
Previous Ranking: 23
20. Arkansas (38-16, 18-12)
Previous Ranking: 15
21. Texas (39-17, 14-10)
Previous Ranking: 21
22. Oregon State (41-13, 20-10)
Previous Ranking: 14
23. Auburn (37-18, 16-13)
Previous Ranking: 22
24. Grand Canyon (39-17, 25-5)
Previous Ranking: 24
25. Florida (35-20, 15-15)
Previous Ranking: NR
Falls off rankings: Dallas Baptist
Once we get to the semi-finals of the conference tournaments and further, stay tuned for some more college baseball previews and in-depth content.
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Main Image Credit: From USA Baseball
