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Pirates rewarded
with return to rankings
Southern Miss leads C-USA race
What a difference a couple of weeks makes.
East Carolina, which plummeted out of the rankings in March after a
bumpy seven-game stretch, has won nine of ten games since then to regain
favor from the polls' voters.
The Pirates vaulted back into all three sets of rankings after closing out
the week at home by snatching two games out of three from Conference USA foe
and previously No. 5 Houston.
ECU (23-7-1, 6-5-1 C-USA) is ranked 20th by
BaseballAmerica, 23rd in the
USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll and is listed
at No. 29 by
Baseball News.
The Cougars (23-10, 8-4) fell slightly to 7th in the BaseballAmerica
rankings but dropped out of the Top Ten in the other two polls (USA
Today/ESPN Coaches, 12th; Baseball News, 11th).
Meanwhile, C-USA member Southern Mississippi (21-11, 9-3) moved into
sole possession of first place in the league race and made its entrance into
the Baseball News rankings at No. 28.
Tigers monopolize top spot
<<< Top of Page >>>
Clemson (27-2) is No. 1 in all three
rankings for the second straight week after winning four of five games
during the period.
South Carolina (24-8), which last week
was 4th in all three polls, lost two of three games and slipped to 8th, 7th
and 7th, respectively, in the BaseballAmerica, USA Today/ESPN and Baseball
News lists.
Wake Forest (25-6) won three of four
contests and solidified its foothold in the Top Ten. The Deacons moved up to
5th (from 7th), 6th (from 7th) and 6th (from 8th) in the BaseballAmerica,
USA Today/ESPN and Baseball News rankings, respectively.
North Carolina (22-11) was 3-2 during
the week and maintained its position in the BaseballAmerica rankings at No.
21 while slipping slightly in the other two lists. The Tar Heels fell three
spots to 24th in the USA Today/ESPN poll and were dropped a notch to 13th by
Baseball News.
The new rankings were released Monday and were based on
results of games through Sunday, March 31.
Rankings Composite
<<< Top of Page >>>
Carolinas/C-USA
teams' rankings summary (last week's ranking in parentheses):
| School |
Baseball News |
BaseballAmerica |
USA
Today/ESPN |
| Clemson |
1 (1) |
1 (1) |
1 (1) |
| Wake
Forest |
6 (8) |
5 (7) |
6 (7) |
| South
Carolina |
7 (4) |
8 (4) |
7 (4) |
| Houston |
11 (9) |
7 (5) |
12 (8) |
| North
Carolina |
13 (12) |
21 (21) |
24 (21) |
| Southern
Miss |
28 (NR) |
NR |
NR |
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Tulane vs. LSU: Attendance
record at stake
<<< Top of Page >>>
A pair of longtime rival teams
from Cajun Country
engaged in a thrilling Super Regional battle last season. Now, they
will meet again with a chance to prove that the national pastime is bigger
than ever down around the bayou.
C-USA member Tulane and SEC power
LSU will collide with
each other 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. —
— 30 —
02/23/2007 11:20:58 AM
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