College baseball rankings: Long Beach State shocks Mississippi State
By Ethan Lee
The Mississippi State Bulldogs had a rough trip out west and are reeling in the college baseball rankings after being shocked by the Long Beach State Dirtbags.
Another weekend of college baseball, another SEC team that was in the 2019 College World Series falls to a non-conference opponent. Last week we saw Auburn get swept by UCF. This week, the Long Beach State Dirtbags hosted Mississippi State and took the series from the Bulldogs in impressive fashion.
That, combined with MSU’s loss to previously winless Texas Southern, drops the Mississippi State Bulldogs out of the top 10 in the latest rankings.
Elsewhere in the SEC, Tennessee has made its first appearance in the Top 25. The Vols crushed George Washington over the weekend with a sweep and then dominated Northern Kentucky and UNC Asheville in midweek matchups. Tennessee is still undefeated and could be a team that causes chaos in an incredibly deep SEC.
FanSided Top 25 college baseball rankings
- Florida
- Vanderbilt
- Texas Tech
- UCLA
- Miami
- Georgia
- Ole Miss
- Louisville
- North Carolina State
- Florida State
- Arkansas
- UCF
- Arizona State
- Long Beach State
- Oklahoma
- Duke
- TCU
- Mississippi State
- Michigan
- Tennessee
- Dallas Baptist
- North Carolina
- Pepperdine
- East Carolina
- Auburn
Teams on the rise: Long Beach State, Tennessee
Long Beach State has looked fantastic two weekends in a row. It’s been a few years since the Dirtbags last made it to a regional but they’re looking like a team that could go pretty deep in the NCAA Tournament this season. A weekend ago the Dirtbags swept Wake Forest. Now they’ve defeated Mississippi State. This team is one college baseball fans should keep up with this year.
Tennessee is also on the rise in the FanSided Top 25 as the Volunteers debut at No. 20. It’s early in the season but the Vols could cause plenty of issues for other teams in the SEC.
Team trending down: Mississippi State
Mississippi State fans had a rough weekend, but the Bulldogs were showing signs of weakness before they even headed out west to face Long Beach State. Mississippi State looked absolutely abysmal in a midweek contest against Texas Southern last Tuesday. Mississippi State lost 8-4 to the team that entered the game with an 0-9 record. The Bulldogs have the talent to make it back to Omaha (they showed that as they won Saturday’s game against LBSU 9-0) but MSU will need to play considerably better, and more consistently, to make that happen.