Oklahoma Baseball moves up five spots in latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Oklahoma Baseball moves up five spots in latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Although fluctuation in the polls may be frustrating, the Oklahoma Sooners baseball team is trending in the right direction with two weeks left in the regular season.
The Sooners benefitted from a positive move in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll on Monday after taking two of three games from Ole Miss over the weekend. OU moved up five spots to spots to No. 16. The upward change, tied for the biggest jump in the country this week, came after the Sooners dropped six spots the week before after losing two of three against Georgia.
Most importantly for Oklahoma, the winning puts the team in a better position for the postseason.
Six of the top 10 teams in the poll are fellow Southeastern Conference teams. Texas held its spot at No. 1 despite being swept by Arkansas, the now-No. 2 team. LSU moved down two spots to fourth, while Georgia ranked sixth, Auburn eighth, and Vanderbilt 10th.
But it isn't just the big dogs with whom the Sooners are fighting for NCAA Tournament positioning. Tennessee, the defending national champion, ranked just outside of the Top 10 at No. 12, while Alabama (20) and Ole Miss (22) ranked behind Oklahoma from the SEC.
Every team has six league games remaining. Texas leads the league by two over Arkansas, who is two games ahead of Georgia and LSU. Tennessee ranks fifth in the SEC standings with Vanderbilt and four teams slot one game behind them in a tie for seventh: Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma.
The Sooners' injection into the Top 16 in the country suggests that NCAA Tournament Regional hosting duties remain a distinct possibility. The odds of seeing postseason games played in Norman go up with a higher finish in the SEC, where the league could see as many as 10 teams host.
Oklahoma plays Kentucky in its penultimate series of the season and closes things out with Texas next week.
Full USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Rank School Record Points First-Place Votes Previous Rank 1 Texas 38-8 713 12 1 2 Arkansas 40-9 669 10 5 3 Florida State 33-10 666 5 8 4 LSU 38-11 653 0 2 5 North Carolina 35-10 652 1 3 6 Georgia 39-11 625 2 7 7 Oregon 33-13 533 0 10 8 Auburn 33-15 528 0 11 9 Clemson 37-12 498 0 4 10 Vanderbilt 34-14 442 0 15 11 Oregon State 34-12 426 0 12 12 Tennessee 37-11 416 0 6 13 West Virginia 39-7 404 0 13 14 Coastal Carolina 37-11 364 0 19 15 UC Irvine 34-11 355 0 9 16 Oklahoma 32-14 241 0 21 17 UCLA 34-13 239 0 14 18 Troy 34-14 192 0 22 19 NC State 30-15 180 0 17 20 Alabama 36-12 166 0 16 21 Southern Miss 35-13 147 0 23 22 Mississippi 33-15 145 0 18 23 Arizona 33-14 132 0 24 24 Louisville 32-15 127 0 20 25 Dallas Baptist 33-13 46 0 NR
Schools Dropped Out
No. 25 Kansas;
Others Receiving Votes
Northeastern 32; USC 25; Georgia Tech 24; Kansas 20; Iowa 19; TCU 18; Florida 15; Duke 10; UTSA 8; Miami (FL) 8; Western Kentucky 5; Arizona State 4; Wake Forest 1; Texas A&M 1; Southeastern Louisiana 1;
List Of Voters
The USA TODAY Sports board of coaches is made up of 30 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2025 season: Mik Aoki, Richmond; Andrew Checketts, UC-Santa Barbara; Jim Chester, Gardner-Webb; Reggie Christiansen, Sacramento State; Terry Davis, Western Illinois; Jeff Forehand, Lipscomb; Craig Gibson, Mercer; Justin Haire, Ohio State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Brian Hamm, Yale; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; Josh Holliday, Oklahoma State; Randy Hood, UNC-Wilmington; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Ed Kahovec, Holy Cross; Ryan Klosterman, Bryant; Geoff Loomis, Portland; Sean Lyons, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville; Scott Malone, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; John McCormack, Florida Atlantic; Jake McKinley, Nevada; Jim Penders, Connecticut; Evan Porter, Nebraska-Omaha; Marc Rardin, Western Kentucky; Sherman Reed, Coppin State; Jake Sabol, Central Michigan; Kevin Schnall, Coastal Carolina; Dan Skirka, Murray State; Alex Sogard, Wright State; Butch Thompson, Auburn.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
40 minutes ago
- New York Times
A Christian Walker turnaround can change Astros' trade deadline priorities
HOUSTON — An answer to the Houston Astros' most apparent need is already in their clubhouse. He switched lockers some time last month, hoping to harness a sliver of luck amid an otherwise subpar season. Christian Walker went 8-for-42 across his next 12 games, negating whatever nirvana the superstition may have spurred. He averaged at least a 96.5 exit velocity during eight of those 12 contests, continuing a confluence of poor luck and putrid results. Advertisement 'Sometimes it can get really frustrating when you don't get your hits,' manager Joe Espada said. 'You see other players (get) end-of-the-bat knocks, and they get lucky on some of these balls. You as a hitter, you're like, 'Man, I'm doing everything I can to put the barrel on the ball and they're not falling for me.'' Few aspects of Walker's horrific start have been more frustrating. Stretches of three or four games have offered hope for a turnaround, only for the subsequent seven or eight to erase all momentum. For instance, he had a three-RBI game on May 11, only to follow it with a 5-for-47 funk. So, assign proper perspective to Walker's first four-RBI game as an Astro on Wednesday night. The beleaguered first baseman broke out of a brutal slump in a season full of them, spearheading a 10-2 shellacking of the Chicago White Sox with his first three-hit game since May 25. ALL-STAR SMASH.#VoteWalker ⭐️ — Houston Astros (@astros) June 12, 2025 Walker's performance raised his OPS to .653. He hasn't had a higher one since that aforementioned outburst on May 11. The anemia that followed is the story of Walker's season. Whether he can avoid it is the Astros' most pertinent question. Parlaying a performance like Wednesday into something more sustainable would crystallize the club's focus toward the July 31 trade deadline. A left-handed hitter and starting pitcher sit atop the Astros' wish list, but any prolonged success from Walker may alter their priorities. The development would lessen Houston's urgency to address a lineup still missing Yordan Alvarez, its most potent left-handed threat. Alvarez's return — whenever it arrives — already represents a pseudo-deadline acquisition, but pairing him with a well-performing Walker would be a permutation Houston hasn't yet seen this season. Advertisement 'The nature of the at-bats — taking good pitches, swinging at good pitches — I feel good,' Walker said. 'I'm happy with how competitive I feel in the box right now.' Walker still awoke Wednesday with a .623 OPS. Of the 17 qualified major-league hitters with a lower one, only Michael Harris III and Willy Adames had taken more plate appearances. Of the 27 players worth fewer wins above replacement, just Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez had played more than Walker. Like Perez, Walker has salary, service time and status as a respected veteran that afford an almost endless runway to correct whatever ails him. Houston's lack of other options only widens it. Walker will start at first base and slot somewhere in the middle of the Astros' order regardless of what the club does during the trade deadline. Espada slid Walker to the five-hole before the series opener against the White Sox on Tuesday. In 147 plate appearances as the cleanup hitter, Walker slugged .296. 'It's trusting the process and having the confidence that, at some point, this is going to turn,' Espada said. 'He knows this tide will turn for him.' Finding better fortune is a factor, but Walker still boasts his highest chase rate, whiff rate and strikeout rate of the past four seasons. He entered Monday with a .208 batting average and, according to Statcast, a .243 expected batting average. Forty-three of Walker's 74 strikeouts have come with a runner on base, problematic for an offense that has scored the sport's seventh-fewest runs. Whether a wholesale turnaround from Walker and full health from Alvarez will fix that is what general manager Dana Brown must ponder over the next seven weeks. Even if both of those circumstances come to pass, a left-handed bench bat or outfield platoon partner would be beneficial for an imbalanced roster. Either would profile as cheaper for an Astros team short on tradeable assets. Focusing the few they have on fortifying a pitching staff staggered by injuries is another byproduct of Walker's potential renaissance. Advertisement Gauging whether one is looming is difficult. Hammering a hanging slider for a two-run home run during Wednesday's first inning ignited the dugout, but it should be standard for someone of Walker's caliber. A more telling sequence came two frames later. Four-seam fastballs have flummoxed the first baseman all season, strange for a player who produced a run value of nine against the pitch last year, according to Baseball Savant. Walker entered Wednesday with a minus-1 run value against the pitch. His .203 batting average against them was 43 points lower than last season and 79 away from the career-best mark he established in 2023. Opponents are aware and attempting to seize advantage. During the third inning, White Sox starter Sean Burke believed he did. Walker waved through one of his elevated four-seamers to even the count at 1. 'It's something we're working on for sure, but it's hard to plan for that,' Walker said. 'You start looking at the top and you get your hanger and you miss it because you're looking for something else.' Drivin' in the runs. #VoteWalker ⭐️ — Houston Astros (@astros) June 12, 2025 Part of Walker's work to remedy the problem involves 'maybe daring guys to go up there,' reasoning that 'if they miss a spot two inches, three inches lower, now we're talking about a ball that can get hit 107, 108 (mph).' Burke did. The 1-1 four-seamer he threw grazed the top rail of Walker's strike zone. He struck it 106 mph into the left-center field gap. Two runs came home. 'It felt good to turn that around,' Walker said.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Walker homers and drives in 4 as Astros rout White Sox 10-2
HOUSTON — Christian Walker homered among his three hits and had a season-high four RBIs to lead the Houston Astros over the Chicago White Sox 10-2 on Wednesday night. Jose Altuve added two hits to give him 2,300 in his career, joining Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (2,342) as the only active players with at least 2,300.
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
NBA Finals Game 3 takeaways: Pacers start homestand with statement win
The NBA Finals are here, with West No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder and the East No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers squaring off with the hope of lifting their first-ever Larry O'Brien trophy at the end of the highly-anticipated series. This is the Pacers' first Finals appearance since 2000, when they eventually fell to the Lakers in six games. The Thunder last made the Finals in 2012 and lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in five games. Here's what has stood out from Wednesday's Game 3 and what to expect from Game 4 on Friday: Game 3: Pacers 116, Thunder 107 What stood out for the Pacers: The Pacers have a lot to celebrate in their first Finals game at home in 25 years considering the following stat: When a championship series is tied at 1-1, the team that wins Game 3 goes on to win the title 80 percent of the time. For Indiana, their bench was the difference-maker, outscoring the Thunder's reserves, 49-18. Bennedict Mathurin, whom the Pacers selected as the sixth overall pick in the 2022 draft, had a game-high 27 points in 22 minutes off the bench, shooting 9-for-12 from the field, 2-for-3 from beyond the arc and making 7 of his eight free-throw attempts. T.J. McConnell also had a major impact off the bench, finishing with 10 points and 5 steals in 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Tyrese Haliburton, who struggled in Game 2 with just 17 points, had a complete performance in Game 3, finishing just one rebound shy of a triple-double with 22 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists. Pascal Siakam added 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting to round out the complete team effort for the Pacers on both ends of the court. What stood out for the Thunder: While the Thunder's defense has deservedly gotten a lot of praise, considering it has led the league in both the regular season and postseason, this game highlighted the Pacers' swarming effort on that end of the court. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged 36 points in Games 1 and 2, was held to just 24 points on 9-for-20 shooting, including going 1-for-3 from beyond the arc in Game 3. The Pacers forced the Thunder to commit 19 turnovers, on which Indiana scored 21 points. Even though the Thunder outrebounded the Pacers, 42-36, and outshot them from beyond the arc, 45.5 percent to 33.3 percent, the Pacers controlled the physicality, tempo and they simply had more players shine in the first game of the series on their homecourt. What to expect in Game 4: For the Thunder, they're going to need to control the pace, limit the amount of Pacers players that get hot and Gilgeous-Alexander is going to need to have an MVP-level performance to prevent them from falling into a 3-1 series hole. For the Pacers, they kept their cool in a game with nine lead changes and 15 ties, with guys who don't typically have eye-popping stats stepping up in a major way on the biggest of stages. If the Pacers' bench can continue to roll like this, they're going to be a very, very tough team to stop, especially on their home floor. Game 2: Thunder 123, Pacers 107 What stood out for the Thunder: The Thunder learned their lesson from Game 1 and played all 48 minutes of Game 2 after blowing a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in the Finals opener. The Thunder outscored the Pacers 33-21 in the second quarter to lead by as much as 23 points, entered the fourth quarter with a 19-point lead and kept a sizable advantage through the final buzzer. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had another 30-plus point performance in the championship round, finishing with 34 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals. But this time around, he had much more help, with the Thunder's reserves outscoring the Pacers' bench, 48-34. The Thunder's top-rated defense suffocated the Pacers' offense. Four Thunder players scored at least 18 points, while no one on the Pacers scored more than 17 points. What stood out for the Pacers: The Pacers were outrebounded, 43-35, and outscored in points in the paint, 42-34. Tyrese Haliburton had just 17 points, including only scoring three points in the first half on 1-for-5 shooting from the field. The Pacers simply looked out of sorts against a Thunder team that was stunned in Game 1 and made sure to come out with their foot on the gas on both ends of the court in Game 2. Every run the Pacers went on was thwarted by the Thunder, who made sure not to allow the come-from-behind team to take a 2-0 series lead on their home court. What to expect in Game 3: For the Pacers, here's to betting Haliburton and Co. come out way more aggressive in Game 3. There's no way the Pacers' star player can finish with just two more field goals (seven) than turnovers (five) and the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, Pascal Siakam, can have 15 points on 3-for-11 shooting and this team can expect to have a chance to win. The Pacers need to pound the boards and figure out ways to find their lanes against the Thunder's swarming defense. As for the Thunder, they need to try to replicate this wall-to-wall effort in Game 3, knowing that no lead is ever safe against the Pacers, especially on their home floor. The Thunder did a great job getting multiple players involved, including reserve Alex Caruso, who shined on both ends of the court with great defense as well as being the team's second-leading scorer with 20 points, making four 3-pointers. Game 1: Pacers 111, Thunder 110 What stood out for the Thunder: Oklahoma City learned a very important lesson in Game 1 of the Finals. No. Lead. Is. Safe. Against. The. Pacers. Ever. The Pacers, who have had multiple historic comebacks this postseason, pulled off the improbable again, storming back from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to take their first lead of the game with 0.3 seconds left after Tyrese Haliburton made a 21-foot pullup jumper to stun the Thunder and their sold-out crowd at Paycom Center. This was the ultimate wake-up call for the Thunder, who held control for over 47 minutes, behind a 38-point performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored twice as many points as any other player on the court. But Haliburton, who has made a name for himself this postseason with three buzzer-beaters and go-ahead buckets heading into the Finals, made the Thunder his latest victim. What stood out for the Pacers: While Haliburton's late-game heroics have already become playoff lore, it would be nice if he and his team weren't in that position. The Pacers had a whopping 25 turnovers while the Thunder only had seven. They also had 16 fewer field goal attempts than the Thunder. For much of the game, the Pacers struggled to generate much offense against the swarming Thunder defense, with no player on Indiana even scoring 20 points. Even though the Thunder only led by as much as 15 points, it seemed as though their lead was twice as large for much of the game -- until the fourth quarter when the comeback kings did what they do best. What to expect in Game 2: For the Thunder, they've obviously realized that they need to play all 48 minutes against this Pacers team, which has made it very clear that they never quit. They can't allow the Pacers to go on heaters late in the game, such as when they went on a 12-2 fourth-quarter run to cut their 15-point deficit to just four points. If the Pacers are within striking distance, the opposing team is in trouble. As for the Pacers, while Haliburton is once again the hero of the playoffs, he only scored 14 points. He needs to be much more aggressive offensively for the Pacers to avoid needing to rely on a buzzer-beater. Meanwhile, the Pacers did a great job dominating the boards, where they had a 56-39 advantage. If they can get fewer turnovers and Haliburton gets going early, they could be in a different position in Game 2. Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.
