Auburn baseball holds top 10 spot in Coaches Poll before UGA series

[ASFN Admin]

Auburn baseball provided more evidence that it should be a national seed in the upcoming NCAA Baseball Tournament over the weekend by taking two of three games from Mississippi State in Starkville. The series win was its sixth in as many weeks and added more wins to its record against Quad 1 opponents.

The Tigers are now the highest-rated team from the SEC in the latest RPI update, but how did the series win over then-No. 11 Mississippi State affect their standing in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll?

This week, the Auburn Tigers remain No. 6 despite getting the best of a top-15 squad on the road. The freeze is due mainly to the success of teams above Auburn. No. 1 UCLA took two of three games from No. 15 Oregon, No. 2 North Carolina swept Pittsburgh, and No. 3 Georgia Tech swept Duke. Georgia and Texas swapped places, with Georgia climbing to No. 4 after sweeping LSU and Texas dropping to No. 5 after losing their series to Tennessee on the road.

The good news is that Auburn not only has a chance to boost its RPI standing, but has the opportunity to climb in next week's coaches poll with four upcoming games against top-25 squads. The week begins for Auburn on Tuesday with a road trip to No. 25 Jax State, and concludes with a three-game set against the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs beginning Thursday evening at Plainsman Park. Auburn aims to get revenge on Jax State following the Gamecocks' 15-4 run-rule win over Auburn on April 7 and will look to build momentum for next week's SEC Tournament in Hoover with a series win over Georgia at home.

Here is a look at this week's USA TODAY Coaches Poll ahead of the final week of the regular season.

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	1st	Prev	Chg	Hi/Lo
1	UCLA Bruins	46-5	750	30	1	-	1/2
2	North Carolina Tar Heels	40-9	709	0	2	-	2/14
3	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	42-8	693	0	3	-	2/5
4	Georgia Bulldogs	41-11	664	0	5	1	4/13
5	Texas Longhorns	37-12	595	0	4	1	2/5
6	Auburn Tigers	35-15	589	0	6	-	4/12
7	Oregon State Beavers	40-11	546	0	8	1	6/18
8	Florida State Seminoles	36-15	485	0	12	4	6/17
9	Southern Miss Golden Eagles	37-14	467	0	13	4	7/20
10	Texas A&M Aggies	37-12	463	0	7	3	7/NR
11	West Virginia Mountaineers	35-12	450	0	15	4	11/NR
12	Mississippi State Bulldogs	38-14	401	0	11	1	3/16
13	USC Trojans	41-12	360	0	16	3	8/NR
14	Arkansas Razorbacks	34-18	342	0	18	4	5/24
15	Oregon Ducks	36-14	325	0	14	1	10/NR
16	Alabama Crimson Tide	35-17	291	0	19	3	9/NR
17	Kansas Jayhawks	37-15	290	0	9	8	9/NR
18	Coastal Carolina Chanticleers	34-17	260	0	10	8	7/25
19	Ole Miss Rebels	34-18	241	0	23	4	18/NR
20	Florida Gators	34-18	221	0	20	-	8/25
21	Nebraska Cornhuskers	37-14	136	0	24	3	16/NR
22	Arizona State Sun Devils	34-17	102	0	17	5	17/NR
23	Oklahoma State Cowboys	33-18	90	0	NR	5	23/NR
24	Boston College Eagles	36-17	72	0	22	2	19/25
25	Jacksonville State Gamecocks	40-11	53	0	NR	1	25/NR

Schools Dropped Out​

No. 21 Oklahoma; No. 25 Virginia;

Others Receiving Votes​

Oklahoma 45; Cincinnati 41; Wake Forest 16; Tennessee 10; UC Santa Barbara 9; Virginia 8; Mercer 7; California Baptist 6; Miami (FL) 5; Missouri State 4; Kent State 3; UTSA 1;

This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn baseball stays No. 6 in USA TODAY Coaches Poll

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