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Roundup: Pirates edge back towards Top 25
Houston series looms large
East Carolina is not back in the rankings, but the Pirates set the
stage to have a chance to break into the polls again as soon as next Monday.
After tumbling out of all three polls last week at the tail end of a
miserable seven-game skid during which the Pirates won only one game, ECU
reeled off five straight victories to regain some positive momentum.
In the
USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll the only set
of rankings which publishes vote totals for unranked teams the Pirates
picked up 37 votes after receiving only 7 last week. The tabulation placed
ECU 31st in the pecking order, 77 votes behind No. 25 Long Beach State.
The Pirates' reversal in fortunes during the week could not have come at a
more critical time. ECU (19-6-1, 4-4-1 Conference USA) hosts Elon tonight to
initiate another
busy week that includes a Wednesday trip to
Campbell and will climax with a three-game weekend home series against Top
Ten foe Houston a team which also happens to be a C-USA powerhouse.
The Cougars (21-8, 7-2) will arrive in Greenville for games Friday, Saturday
and Sunday ranked 9th by
Baseball News, 5th by
BaseballAmerica and 8th in the
USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll.
Sunday's ECU-Houston game, scheduled for noon, will be televised in Eastern
North Carolina by WITN-TV 7.
Carolinas schools prominent in rankings
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While Houston, C-USA's only ranked team, firmed
up its presence in the Top Ten, four of the NC/SC region's teams solidified
their status in the polls.
Clemson (23-1) is No. 1 in all three
rankings after moving up from 2nd in the BaseballAmerica list. The Tigers
maintained their grip on the top spot in the Baseball News and USA
Today/ESPN polls.
South Carolina (23-6) is ranked 4th by
all three publications and Wake Forest (22-5) is also planted firmly
in the Top Ten in all three polls. The Demon Deacons are ranked 8th by
Baseball News and 7th by BaseballAmerica and USA Today/ESPN.
North Carolina, which vaulted into the
rankings last week, continued its upwards climb. The Tar Heels (19-9) jumped
all the way to No. 12 (from 20th) in the Baseball News rankings and are
slotted at 21st by both BaseballAmerica and USA Today/ESPN.
The new rankings were released Monday and were based on
results of games through Sunday, March 31.
Carolinas/C-USA
teams' rankings summary (last week's ranking in parentheses):
| School |
Baseball News |
BaseballAmerica |
USA
Today/ESPN |
| Clemson |
1 (1) |
1 (2) |
1 (1) |
| South
Carolina |
4 (3) |
4 (4) |
4 (4) |
| Wake
Forest |
8 (8) |
7 (11) |
7 (9) |
| Houston |
9 (9) |
5 (5) |
8 (10) |
| North
Carolina |
12 (20) |
21 (24) |
21 (25) |
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Tulane and LSU go for record
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Longtime rivals Tulane and LSU
engaged in a thrilling Super Regional battle last season. Next week, they
will meet again with a chance to prove that the national pastime is bigger
than ever down around the bayou.
The Green Wave will collide with
the Tigers on Wednesday, April 10, at the Louisiana Superdome with an eye on
breaking the all-time single-game college baseball attendance record.
The national collegiate baseball attendance record for a regular season
contest
is 21,043, set March 4, 1996, by a pair of former Southwest Conference
rivals Texas Christian (now a C-USA member) and Texas (now a Big 12
member). The big game was played in the Lone Star State at the Ballpark at Arlington.
 A
two-game session involving Miami-Alabama and Rice-Oklahoma State at the 1999
College World Series in Omaha saw the largest overall crowd (regular season
or postseason) for a college baseball game. A gathering of 24,859 fans
packed into Rosenblatt Stadium for the double-header.
Last June's Super Regional between LSU and Tulane drew 35,268 fans to Zephyr
Field in Metairie, LA, for three games.
From Staff and Conference USA
reports.
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02/23/2007 11:20:58 AM
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