AUSTIN (KXAN) — Voters in the four national college baseball polls really loved the Texas Longhorns’ sweep of West Virginia to earn a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season title.
After starting the week unranked in all of them, the Longhorns shot up to No. 13 in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper polls while rising to No. 20 in the D1Baseball.com poll and No. 22 in the USA Today Coaches poll.
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With the losses at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the Mountaineers tumbled seven spots in the Baseball America poll to No. 14, 15 spots in the D1Baseball.com poll to No. 21, 10 spots in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll to No. 18 and 10 spots in the coaches poll to No. 17.
It has been a rollercoaster year for the Longhorns when it comes to the rankings, but after taking out a consensus top-10 team and the Big 12’s leader at the time, Texas is getting a bit more respect nationally.
- Full Baseball America poll
- Full D1Baseball.com poll
- Full Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll
- Full USA Today Coaches poll
In their latest tournament field projections, D1Baseball.com included Texas as a regional host site for the first time as a No. 16 seed. They said the Longhorns will have to win a couple of games in the Big 12 tournament to solidify their spot, but they feel the West Virginia sweep outweighs being swept at home by Oklahoma, a loss to Baylor and a loss to San Jose State at home. Baylor has an RPI of 165 and San Jose State’s is 108.
Texas has an RPI of 23, the third-highest in the Big 12. Oklahoma State sits at 20 and West Virginia is at 21. The Longhorns take on Kansas in the first round of the Big 12 tournament on Wednesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
