College baseball notebook: Vols’ clear dominance makes them consensus No. 1 after sweep of Florida

By Canadian Press on March 17, 2025.

Tennessee’s dominance through the first month of the season has become so apparent that one of the most authoritative college baseball media outlets demoted an LSU team on a 15-game winning streak from No. 1 in its Top 25 and replaced the Tigers with the Volunteers on Monday.

At 20-0, the Vols are the only remaining unbeaten team in Division I. They’re off to the best start in program history and coming off a three-game home sweep against what was a top-10 Florida.

D1Baseball.com promoted the defending national champions over a now-No. 2 LSU (15-1) that went 4-0 last week and swept Missouri. D1Baseball said that since it began its rankings in 2015, it had never taken a No. 1 team off the top perch after an unbeaten week.

Tennessee, ranked No. 1 by Baseball America for a third straight week, is now the consensus top team. Arkansas (18-2) remains No. 3.

“Just got to keep going,” said Cannon Peebles, whose pinch double gave Tennessee the lead in a 7-4 win Sunday. “Last year we were very fortunate to do what we did. Last year doesn’t really matter anymore. Every single person on this team is focused on this year and we take it game by game, and I think that’s why we’ve had this start.”

There are no weaknesses. Liam Doyle, who leads the nation with 53 strikeouts, heads a staff that ranks first with a 1.72 ERA and 5.61 hits allowed per nine innings. Offensively, the Vols lead the nation with 2.65 homers per game and .662 slugging percentage and are second at 11.3 runs per game.

Tennessee hosts East Tennessee State (15-4) on Tuesday before traveling to a top-10 Alabama (20-1) for a Thursday-to-Saturday series. The Crimson Tide swept Texas A&M on the road over the weekend.

Swattin’ Sasaki

It took 66 at-bats for Stanford freshman Rintaro Sasaki to break through with his first collegiate home run. Japan’s all-time high school leader went deep three times over six at-bats Saturday and Sunday as the Cardinal swept Duke. He was 6 of 14 with eight RBIs in the series and is batting .338/.424/.500 through 18 games.

Sudden surge

Northwestern’s Trent Liolios had three homers in a 13-5 win over Penn State and a total of four in the doubleheader split Saturday. Liolios had nine homers and batted .209 in 52 games last season. So far this season he has eight homers and a .382 batting average through 17 games.

Devil of a time

Arizona State’s offense, held to a combined four runs in two straight losses last week, unleashed some pent-up frustration in the second game of its road series with TCU on Saturday.

The Sun Devils won 26-9, the most runs they’ve scored in a conference game since 2000 and tied for the most TCU has ever allowed. ASU’s 28 hits also were a TCU opponent record. Kyle Walker hit the first of ASU’s five homers leading off the game. The Sun Devils won 12-11 on Sunday to take the series.

Cleanup spot

Kansas (17-3) hit nine home runs while winning two of three against Baylor. The Jayhawks, who are third in the nation in scoring at 10.4 runs per game, have gone deep 46 times through 20 games. Jackson Hauge, a transfer from Division II Mankato State, has a team-best 11. … Oregon State’s Ethan Kleinschmit has allowed just six hits and a run with two walks and 15 strikeouts in his last 11 2/3 innings over two appearances. … Florida State left-hander Wes Mendes allowed no earned runs and struck out eight over a career-high seven innings as the Seminoles beat Boston College 6-2 Saturday to complete a three-game sweep. … Texas Southern stole 17 bases in a 20-7 win over Mississippi Valley State on Friday, the most since Alabama State had the same number of steals against Tuskegee in 1991.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

Eric Olson, The Associated Press

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