With just a solitary week of regular season play left, the race to Omaha is on in college baseball. Week 13 was an interesting one and left plenty of questions about who’s temporarily up and down and who’s going places.
Nowhere is the up and down nature more evident than the SEC. How do college baseball’s top teams stack up?
College baseball power rankings week 13
#1 Tennessee (42-10)
The Vols are tied for second in the SEC, behind Kentucky, but they could be the top team in the nation.
Their powerful and balanced offense is led by the heroics of Christian Moore (.380, 23 home runs, 56 RBIs). Six of the seven UT players with more than 100 at bats are hitting .305 or better.
The pitching has been a pleasant surprise. Drew Beam was an expected standout, but bullpen arm Nate Snead (8-1, 2.57 ERA) has done excellent work out of the bullpen. Tennessee is a potent team as the regular season wraps up.
#2 Arkansas (42-10)
The Razorbacks are tied with Tennessee for second in the SEC but will play their final regular season series at Texas A&M. Arkansas’s bats are competent but not particularly exciting. But the Hogs separate themselves from the field on the mound.
Lefty Hagen Smith is having a Sandy Koufax type season (9-0, 1.65, 136 strikeouts in 71 innings). On any other team, Brady Tygart (4-3, 3.86) could be an ace. The bullpen is phenomenal, with 23 saves to their credit. Opposing hitters bat just .211 against Arkansas.
#3 Kentucky (37-11)
Kentucky finishes with a series against Vanderbilt. The Wildcats have a one game lead to win the SEC outright. Kentucky doesn’t have a ton of power but puts together singles and doubles with the SEC’s best speed attack (99 stolen bases on the year).
Kentucky’s relief pitching has been spotty, but with a pair of extra-inning wins at Florida, the Wildcats figured out a way to get things done. If they can continue, Omaha could well await.
#4 North Carolina (39-11)
UNC’s Vance Honeycutt might be the most underrated hitter in college baseball. But the Tar Heels are here because their pitching has been excellent.
UNC leads the ACC in ERA by about a third of a run per nine innings. They also have the fewest walks in the league. Those two things are certainly not unrelated, and they will help UNC stick around in the postseason.
#5 Oregon State (39-12)
Oregon State had a 4-0 week and scored 58 runs. Travis Bazzana has been the quietest superstar in college baseball (.424, 26 home runs, 14 steals), and leadoff standout Micah McDowell (.423) has returned from injury.
If the pitching can stand up, they’re tough. Did we mention their top two starters have ERAs of 2.77 and 3.65 respectively?
#6 Texas A&M (42-10)
The Aggies dropped a series at Ole Miss that probably knocked them out of legitimate SEC title contention.
Nevertheless, the slugging outfield duo of Jace Laviolette (.318, 27 home runs) and Braden Montgomery (.340, 24 home runs) will be tough to beat. Ryan Prager (8-1, 2.71) is probably the second-best pitcher in the SEC, behind only Hagen Smith.
#7 Wake Forest (36-16)
The Demon Deacons are coming off a sweep of Clemson. Also, Tennessee transfer Chase Burns had another big game.
Burns struck out 16 hitters, which raises his totals to 156 strikeouts in 82 innings. Wake leads the ACC in homers and is heading torward college baseball postseason play on a nice uptick.
#8 Georgia (38-12)
Two things working for Georgia: 1) they’re red-hot with eight wins in a row and 2) Charlie Condon is absolutely murdering baseballs.
Condon is hitting a whopping .454 with 34 home runs, both high marks for NCAA baseball. Four other Bulldogs have at least a dozen homers. The pitching is the question mark, but Condon might single-handedly slug UGA to college baseball glory in Omaha.
#9 Clemson (37-13)
Clemson comes in cold after getting swept by Wake Forest. But slugger Blake Wright (.327, 19 home runs, 66 RBIs) will likely straighten things out. Pitcher Aidan Knaak (4-1, 3.22, 86 strikeouts in 67 innings) still has filthy stuff.
#10 Florida State (37-12)
FSU lost a series to Pittsburgh but has still had an excellent season. James Tibbs III has been a blaster at the plate (.385, 21 home runs, 74 RBIs), while starter Jamie Arnold is an ace in the making (8-3, 2.27 ERA, 118 strikeouts in 75 1/3 innings).
The next 15 teams are as follows:
11. East Carolina (37-13)
12. Duke (34-16)
13. Virginia (37-14)
14. UC-Irvine (38-10)
15. Mississippi State (33-18)
16. NC State (29-19)
17. Oklahoma (32-17)
18. Oklahoma State (34-16)
19. Santa Barbara (35-12)
20. Arizona (32-18)
21. Louisiana (38-15)
22. Oregon (34-16)
23. Indiana State (36-11)
24. South Carolina (33-18)
25. Alabama (32-19)
Which college baseball powerhouses did we overrate or underrate in our power rankings? Weigh in with your thoughts below in our comments section:
