Oklahoma Baseball Cracks Top 25 Polls

With a three-game sweep of some perenial national powerhouses at the Kia Baseball Bash over the weekend, the Oklahoma baseball team received some much deserved respect from the national media and coaching community on Monday as they broke into the top 25 of all four national polls. The Sooners, who were recently crowned tournament champs after wins over previously-ranked No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 13 Cal State Fullerton and USC, were ranked highest by Collegiate Baseball who listed Oklahoma at No. 16, a jump of 12 spots in their poll. The Sports Weekly/ESPN poll debuted OU at No. 17 while Baseball America and the NCBWA polls had the Sooners at No. 19.

“Our team is extremely excited to be back among the nation's top teams this week,” OU head coach Larry Cochell commented. “We found out a lot about ourselves this past weekend and saw what type of team we have the potential to be.”

The No. 16 ranking by Collegiate Baseball was the program's highest regular season ranking in any of the polls since the week of May 18, 1998, when the publication rated the Sooners the 14th-best team in the country. However, Oklahoma did debut at No. 15 in the magazine's 2001 preseason poll.

The last time the Sooners were ranked in the top 25 was during the 2002 season when they were ranked 24th by Collegiate Baseball. The last appearance in Baseball America and Sports Weekly's polls came the previous week when OU was ranked 25th and 23rd, respectively.

At 8-1, the Sooners have jumped out to their best start in five years since the 1998 squad opened the season 12-0. The two wins over the Yellow Jackets and the Titans improved the team's record against top 25 competition this year to 3-0 after they picked up a win two weeks ago against then-seventh ranked Arizona State.

OU's string of eight-straight wins is also the club's best stretch since the 2000 season when that team rattled off nine in a row.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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