The Out Of Town Scoreboard, Week of 3/1/16

(Using D1Baseball T25 rankings)

#1 Florida, 7-1

The universal #1 team in America might have the best win in America so far in this early season, going on the road and taking 2 of 3 at consensus Top 10 Miami. The only blemish was due to a surprisingly bad start from AJ Puk.

Mid-week: 2 game home-and-away vs UCF. Weekend: vs Darmouth

#2 Vanderbilt, 8-0

The team who allowed the ACC to break their 55 year baseball championship slump (NO, I'M NOT BITTER AT ALL) has a perfect start to the year and have thoroughly dominated their unremarkable opening slate. The Commodores don't appear to have lost a step from last year's CWS team. But the competition ramps up like a sheer cliff this weekend as they travel for a series at Stanford.

Mid-week: vs Tennessee Tech. Weekend: at Stanford

#3 Texas A&M, 7-1

A quiet, if clean start for the Aggies this season, including taking 2 of 3 on the road at Pepperdine's beautiful stadium on the Malibu beach in shutout wins.

Mid-week: vs Houston Baptist. Weekend: vs Yale

#13 South Carolina, 8-0

Hard to say how South Carolina is doing this year, but 8-0 against even a weak slate is still a good start. C John Jones earned national Player of the Week honors after reaching base in all 14 of his plate appearances last weekend, going 8-for-8 with 6 walks and 2 home runs. We'll get a better idea about how the Gamecocks are doing after this weekend's home-away-neutral state-crossing rivalry series with Clemson

Mid-Week: @ The Citadel. Weekend: vs Clemson (Reedy River Rivalry)

#14 Arkansas, 8-0

The Hogs look like an offensive juggernaut, through the first two weeks, leading the SEC with 12 HRs already. They swept their games in Minute made park against Rice, Houston, and Texas Tech, outscoring their opponents 27-11.

Mid-week: vs La Tech. Weekend: vs Eastern Illinois

#17 Ole Miss, 6-1

Hard to find a team that's had a better start to their season than the Rebels, who dominated FIU on opening weekend, then took 2 of 3 from Top 5 Louisvillle. Ole Miss' new-look pitching staff is rounding into form quickly and 2B Tate Blackman looks like one of the conferences best offensive threats.

Mid-week: vs Memphis. Weekend: vs Ball State, Coastal Carolina, and Cincinnati (Chanticleer Classic, Conway, SC)

#20 Mississippi St, 6-2

John Cohen's Bulldogs are off to a rough start, despite the record. Their 6 wins are against some awful northern teams while they were handily defeated in 2 games against FAU at home, including a 10-6 drubbing on opening night. Looks like pitching is still a vulnerability for MSU this season. They've got one helluva road trip this weekend that will tell us if State is just rusty or has more serious issues.

Mid-week: vs Alcorn St. Weekend: vs. UCLA, USC, and OU. (Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic, Los Angeles, CA)

Alabama, 6-1

With their lone loss of the season being a saturday game against what's supposed to be a pretty good Maryland team and the successful opening of the new Sewell-Thomas stadium, spirits are high for the Tide. Of particular note has been the performances of starting RHP Geoffrey Bramblett and closer Thomas Burrows.

Mid-week: @ Troy. Weekend: vs Notre Dame, NC St, Niagra, and Brown. (USA Baseball Irish Classic, Team USA Baseball National Training Complex, Cary, NC)

Tennessee, 5-1

Took 2-3 from Memphis at a neutral site series, then swept a weekend tournament at Grand Canyon U in AZ. Vols are putting up some eye-popping offensive numbers as they beat GCU 25-8 and Central Mich 20-1

Mid-week: Home Opener vs. Cincy. Weekend: vs. Maryland, ECU, and SELA (Keith LeClair Classic, Greenville, NC)

Kentucky, 3-3

It's been a weary road start for the Wildcats, which includes losses last weekend to UCSB and Bryant at a tournament in San Diego. But hey, at least they've got 18 layer nachos.

Mid-week: Home opener vs Austin Peay. Weekend: vs Buffalo

Georgia, 4-3

It's been a rough start for the Dawgs, losing 2 of 3 in their own tournament at home last weekend (though they did beat Cincinnati 7-6) The sample size is small with only 7 games to go on, but Georgia is at or near the bottom of every offensive category in the SEC, including  a .230 team batting average.

Mid-week: vs Charleston Southern (2 games.) Weekend: vs Wright State

Auburn, 4-3

The Other Tigers are struggling to get some traction this year, losing their opening series vs Sacramento St., then failing to sweep a bad Southern team last weekend. There's still plenty of time and weak opposition ahead for first year HC Butch Thompson to get Auburn on the right path.

Mid-week: 2 vs Alabama A&M. Weekend: vs. Troy, Michigan St., and Southern Miss (Cox Diamond Invitational, Pensacola, FL)

Mizzou, 7-2

Pulling off a neat scheduling trick, The Other Other Tigers spent the entire month of February in Florida, playing 2 "home" weekend series at a minor league park in Ft Meyers. and busing to FIU for a mid week. Thier losses come from splitting a 4 game series with Seton Hall, one of the better Northern programs. Spring break is over now as Mizzou returns home until the start of SEC play.

Mid-week: vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Weekend: vs Illinois-Chicago (4 games)