Ole Miss outfielder Tristan Bissetta celebrates a home run against No. 15 Kentucky. | Dylan Cohron, HottyToddy.com Images
Ole Miss outfielder Tristan Bissetta celebrates a home run against No. 15 Kentucky. | Dylan Cohron, HottyToddy.com Images

Ole Miss Back in Top 25, Ahead of High-Stakes SEC Series Against LSU

BY Taylor Hodges

Ole Miss baseball’s weekend SEC series against LSU just got a little bit of juice added to it.

Both the Rebels and Tigers reentered the top 25 rankings, giving the weekend series at Swayze Field some higher stakes with both teams now having a number in front of their names.

Ole Miss just barely made the cut, coming in at No. 25 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 Rankings. However, Baseball America and Perfect Game didn’t include the Rebels in their top 25s released Monday morning. LSU was ranked one spot ahead in the D1Baseball rankings and was also left out of the major college baseball polls.

The Rebels earned their way back into the top 25 with a series win against then-No. 21 Florida (now unranked) with a late game-tying home run by Judd Utermark, Brayden Randle driving in the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly and Hayden Federico extending the lead with a two-run single in Saturday’s series finale.

LSU got back into the rankings with a series win of its own against Tennessee, including a 16-6 win in the finale.

Before taking on LSU for a weekend series starting Friday, the Rebels host Alcorn State (7-25) at 6:30 p.m. on SECN+.

D1Baseball.com Top 25

  1. UCLA (29-2)
  2. Texas (26-5)
  3. Georgia Tech (26-5)
  4. Georgia (27-6)
  5. Florida State (24-7)
  6. North Carolina (27-5)
  7. Oregon State (24-6)
  8. Alabama (25-8)
  9. Mississippi State (25-7)
  10. Southern Miss (23-9)
  11. Coastal Carolina (23-8)
  12. UCF (20-9)
  13. Virginia (24-9)
  14. Southern California (27-6)
  15. Auburn (22-9)
  16. Oklahoma (21-10)
  17. West Virginia (21-7)
  18. Texas A&M (25-6)
  19. Nebraska (26-6)
  20. Arizona State (23-9)
  21. Oregon (24-8)
  22. Arkansas (20-13)
  23. Boston College (22-11)
  24. LSU (22-11)
  25. Ole Miss (22-11)

Dropped Out: Florida, Kentucky

Baseball America Top 25

  1. UCLA (29-2)
  2. Texas (26-5)
  3. Georgia Tech (26-5)
  4. Georgia (27-6)
  5. Florida State (24-7)
  6. North Carolina (27-5-1)
  7. Oregon State (24-6)
  8. Alabama (26-8)
  9. Mississippi State (25-7)
  10. Auburn (22-9)
  11. USC (27-6)
  12. Southern Miss (23-9)
  13. Oklahoma (21-10)
  14. Coastal Carolina (23-8)
  15. NC State (21-11)
  16. Texas A&M (25-6)
  17. UCF (20-9)
  18. West Virginia (21-7)
  19. Arizona State (23-9)
  20. Nebraska (26-6)
  21. Florida (23-10)
  22. Arkansas (20-13)
  23. Boston College (22-11)
  24. Jacksonville State (27-6)
  25. Virginia (24-9)

Dropped Out: Oregon, Kentucky

Perfect Game Top 25

  1. UCLA (29-2)
  2. Georgia Tech (26-5)
  3. Texas (26-5)
  4. Georgia (27-6)
  5. Florida State (24-7)
  6. North Carolina (27-5-1)
  7. Alabama (25-8)
  8. Mississippi State (25-7)
  9. Oregon State (24-6)
  10. Coastal Carolina (23-8)
  11. USC (27-6)
  12. Auburn (22-9)
  13. UCF (20-9)
  14. Nebraska (26-6)
  15. Southern Miss (23-9)
  16. West Virginia (21-7)
  17. Virginia (24-9)
  18. Arizona State (23-9)
  19. Texas A&M (25-6)
  20. Oregon (24-8)
  21. Jacksonville State (27-6)
  22. Florida (24-9)
  23. Missouri State (21-9)
  24. Miami (24-8)
  25. Boston College (22-11)
  • Dropped Out: #19 Arkansas, #21 Oklahoma
  • Also Considered: Campbell, Liberty, Ole Miss, Kansas, TCU

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