Louisville vaults 5 spots in D1Baseball's top 25 after Week 3

LSU remains No. 1 in the D1Baseball Top 25 for the third straight week, as the top eight teams in the rankings all held steady. In fact, each of the top 17 teams in last week’s rankings won their weekends, leading to little movement in the top half of the rankings. But there was some minor shuffling.

Louisville made the week’s biggest move, vaulting five spots to No. 9 after a 3-0 week at the Shriners College Classic, highlighted by wins against Top 25 foes Texas A&M and TCU. Louisville’s jump forced a few teams to drop despite winning their weekends: ECU fell three to No. 12 after a 2-2 week against unranked competition, while Oklahoma State and UNC each slipped one spot despite going a combined 9-0 on the week. But Louisville’s marquee wins trump anything on OSU’s or UNC’s resumés to this point, making Louisville’s climb at the expense of the Cowboys and Tar Heels unavoidable.

Texas A&M held at No. 15 after surviving Shriners with a winning record following a 16-inning Sunday night marathon victory over then-No. 24 Texas Tech, which fell out of the rankings. UCLA moved up one to No. 16, followed by three teams that have raced out to undefeated records against softer competition: No. 17 Virginia, No. 18 Alabama and No. 19 NC State.

South Carolina climbed three spots to No. 20 after winning its annual rivalry series against Clemson. Florida State fell five spots to No. 21 after following up its series win at TCU by dropping two of three at home against Florida Gulf Coast. Southern Miss climbed three to No. 22 after sweeping a big series against Dallas Baptist.

In addition to Texas Tech, two other teams fell out of the rankings: then-No. 18 Maryland and then-No. 22 Miami, both of which went 1-3 on the week, albeit against strong competition. Those exits made room for three teams to make their season debuts in the rankings: No. 23 Iowa (the only team to beat top-ranked LSU this year), No. 24 Campbell (which won a loud road series at Louisiana this weekend) and No. 25 Oregon State (which took three of four at Cal Poly).

D1Baseball editors and national writers determine the Top 25 rankings. Records are through games of March 5.