A lot of movement occurred among Southeastern Conference teams in this week’s edition of the Baseball America Top 25 poll. One team fell completely out of the poll, another dropped seven spots and two jumped multiple spots in what proved to be a topsy-turvy week in SEC baseball.Vanderbilt dropped out of the polls this week following a 3-2 week that saw the Commodores (32-12, 9-9) drop both games of a doubleheader Sunday against Tennessee.”We pitched great all day. Our pitchers were unbelievable, and that is huge for us. We definitely needed that,” Tennessee coach Todd Raleigh said in a news release. “That’s exactly what we need to do in order for us to be a good team, and we got that today. It’s tough to [keep the team’s mind in the game], but I told them that we’ve got to continue to battle offensively.”LSU saw the biggest drop in its poll position entering the week.The Tigers (32-10, 11-7) entered the week at No. 8 in the polls but dropped to No. 15 following a 2-3 week. LSU took a two-game series against Northwestern State on Tuesday and Wednesday but was swept by Ole Miss on the road during the weekend.”Our kids competed extremely hard, but we couldn’t extend the lead when we had some chances,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said in a news release. “It was an intense series and some tough ball games, but we have to move forward. I feel confident our team will recover quickly because we have to. There’s still a long way to go in the season; we have 12 SEC games left to play.”LSU’s series sweep at the hands of Ole Miss is part of a season-high four-game losing streak for the Tigers.As a result of sweeping LSU, the Rebels (29-13) moved up from No. 19 to No. 14 in the Baseball America poll.South Carolina also saw its poll position change for the better this week.The Gamecocks (32-8, 14-4) went 4-0 on the week, including a series sweep against Georgia last weekend to jump three sports to No. 7.”We can’t win close games playing like we play,” Georgia coach David Perno said in a news release. “We walk too many guys, especially leadoff walks, and you can’t do that against good teams. We have no consistency on the mound or offensively. Unfortunately, we’re not good. I hate it, and we’re going to keep fighting and playing hard. I was proud of how they battled back today, but we didn’t execute in key situations.”Florida moved up one spot to No. 6 following a 3-1 week.The Gators (28-11, 12-6) took two of three games from SEC West-leading Arkansas. Arkansas was the only team to stay put in the poll this week.The No. 9 Razorbacks (33-8, 13-5) went 2-2 on the week.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEKAuburn junior left fielder Hunter Morris was named the SEC Player of the Week for his exploits this past week. Morris had a walk-off RBI single Sunday against Kentucky to clinch the series for the Tigers.Throughout the week, he went 8-for-17 with two doubles, two triples, two home runs and nine RBIs.Morris leads the conference in slugging percentage at .779 and is No. 2 in hits with 71, RBIs with 53 and home runs with 13.The conference’s top pitcher this week was South Carolina’s Sam Dyson.Dyson pitched a complete-game shutout Sunday in a seven-inning game against Georgia. He had five strikeouts in the game and forced 14 ground ball outs.Dyson is the third consecutive Gamecock pitcher to be named Pitcher of the Week.This week’s Freshman of the Week is Ole Miss’ Alex Yarbrough.Yarbrough hit a game-winning RBI single Saturday in the bottom of the 11th inning of the second game of the Rebels’ doubleheader against LSU. He also hit a game-tying home run in Sunday’s game against the Tigers — his first career home run.
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Baseball: Several teams move position in week’s poll
April 28, 2010