Big 12 Baseball Power Rankings: Kansas State Moves Up
Conference play is here as we just wrapped up another week of the season. It was a busy weekend full of surprises and big moments.
Each week, Heartland College Sports will release its Big 12 baseball power rankings, and here are this week’s rankings.
1. West Virginia Mountaineers (Last Week #1)
No surprise here as West Virginia stays at the top of my power rankings. After sweeping Baylor on the road a week ago, the Mountaineers took care of business against Oklahoma by taking two out of three games. This team is in a great position to not only host but maybe become a national seed as well. They still have two tough series ahead of them, but they can’t slow down now because a Big 12 title is within reach.
2. Oklahoma State Cowboys (Last Week #2)
The Cowboys stay at number two for the time being. Their offense stayed hot all weekend against ETSU, but the competition will ramp up next weekend as they host a good Kansas State team. That series will be huge because the winner will still be right in the mix for a conference crown.
3. Kansas State Wildcats (Last Week #4)
I decided to bump the Wildcats up a spot after an impressive sweep over Southeast Missouri State. Kansas State dominated all weekend long as they now have won four straight weekend series in a row. This team is getting hot at the right time, and they have a big test ahead as they travel to Stillwater next weekend.
4. Texas Longhorns (Last Week #3)
While Texas does slide down one spot, I wouldn’t worry too much. This team is still in a good position to make the postseason and they won their rubber match against Kansas on Sunday afternoon. While this team is still fairly young, I think they are going to be a tough matchup for anyone in the month of June.
5. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Last Week #5)
Going into last weekend, I knew that their series against Sam Houston State was going to be a high scoring one. Despite being outscored 27 to 25, the Red Raiders came out of the weekend with a series win on Sunday. I have said it before, but this team can compete with anybody because their offense is that good. The problem is that they don’t have the pitching to be a serious threat and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
6. TCU Horned Frogs (Last Week #7)
The Horned Frogs showed me something this past weekend. They hosted a top 25 Cal State Fullerton team and went toe to toe with them and won the rubber match on Sunday. This was a huge series win for TCU because they need all the help they can get because they are one of those teams on the postseason bubble right now.
7. Oklahoma Sooners (Last Week #6)
It’s hard to fault the Sooners for dropping a series to West Virginia in Morgantown. They had an opportunity to take the series on Sunday, but they just fell flat. That was a series they really needed because now they are 10-11 in Big 12 play with only one conference series left against Oklahoma State.
8. Kansas Jayhawks (Last Week #8)
There isn’t much for me to say about Kansas right now. They haven’t won a series in over a month, and they have just one more conference series left against Texas Tech. Even if they somehow sweep Texas Tech, their only hope of making the postseason is by winning the Big 12 tournament at the end of the month.
9. Baylor Bears (Last Week #9)
The Bears were off this past weekend, but they still have three conference games left on the schedule against TCU. Much like Kansas, it would take a miracle for them to win the Big 12 tournament to make the postseason.
10. Iowa State Cyclones (Last Week #10)
I will not move Iowa State until they bring back baseball!
