Fansided

College baseball rankings – Top 25: UCLA surges past Vanderbilt

By Ethan Lee

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 25: (EDITORS NOTES: This is a panoramic stitched from separate photos) The opening pitch of the Vanderbilt Commodores vs. the Michigan Wolverines in the 2019 NCAA Baseball Men's College World Series National Championship at TD Ameritrade Park on June 25, 2019 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by James Blakeway/Blakeway World Panoramas/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 25: (EDITORS NOTES: This is a panoramic stitched from separate photos) The opening pitch of the Vanderbilt Commodores vs. the Michigan Wolverines in the 2019 NCAA Baseball Men's College World Series National Championship at TD Ameritrade Park on June 25, 2019 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by James Blakeway/Blakeway World Panoramas/Getty Images) /
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With a 13-2 record, the UCLA Bruins are off to a strong start. However, Florida still looks like the best college baseball team as the Gators have an unblemished record.

The Vanderbilt Commodores went out to the West Coast looking to get a couple of wins against some strong competition in the Southern California College Baseball Classic. Instead, Vandy was handed a couple of losses, dropping low scoring games against UCLA and USC. The Commodores did grab a win against TCU to finish the weekend, but those two losses allowed the UCLA Bruins to snag the No. 2 spot in the FanSided Top 25 college baseball rankings.

It should be noted, however, that UCLA is not perfect. The Bruins did lose in lopsided fashion to TCU over the weekend and suffered a midweek loss to UC Santa Barbara, who cracks the Top 25 this week.

The Gauchos are an interesting team and are quickly proving to be a nightmare for opponents. UC Santa Barbara doesn’t hit the ball well, but is 13-2 and certainly comfortable winning low-scoring games. That’s exactly what happened to Oregon State as the Gauchos handed the Beavers three losses, including two shutouts.

Here’s what the top 25 looks like after another week of college baseball:

FanSided Top 25 college baseball rankings

  1. Florida
  2. UCLA
  3. Texas Tech
  4. Miami
  5. Georgia
  6. Vanderbilt
  7. Ole Miss
  8. Louisville
  9. UCF
  10. Arizona State
  11. Duke
  12. Oklahoma
  13. Long Beach State
  14. North Carolina State
  15. Dallas Baptist
  16. Mississippi State
  17. Pepperdine
  18. East Carolina
  19. Florida State
  20. UC Santa Barbara
  21. TCU
  22. Auburn
  23. Texas
  24. Virginia
  25. Texas A&M

Team on the rise: UC Santa Barbara

If you aren’t already keeping tabs on them, you’re missing out by not paying attention to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. UC Santa Barbara may not be one to run up the score and constantly hit home runs, but the Gauchos are certainly still an impressive baseball team. Led by a dominant group of pitchers, the Gauchos have won eight games in a row. Expect to see this team in the postseason.

Teams trending down: Arkansas, TCU

Arkansas may have ended its series against South Alabama with a couple of strong wins, but the Razorbacks fell to Illinois State in a midweek game and then completely imploded against South Alabama in game one, losing 13-6. Bouncing back and winning game two against the Jaguars by a score of 15-2 is impressive, but Arkansas has been a roller coaster so far this season.

TCU, meanwhile, lost three of its last four games. The Horned Frogs fell to the University of Texas-Arlington in a Tuesday game and then lost to USC and Vanderbilt over the weekend. However, TCU did score a huge win against UCLA between the losses to the Trojans and the Commodores. Both Arkansas and TCU have plenty of time to get things figured out and play up to their potential this season, but they need to start the process of getting things figured out now.

Team on the outside looking in: Michigan

I think the Michigan Wolverines have a pretty high ceiling, but they’ve struggled to reach that ceiling consistently. As the national runner-up from last season, Michigan proved that it could hit a hot streak and ride it for a while. The Wolverines have yet to hit that hot streak this season and seemed to struggle against Pepperdine.