Big 12 Baseball Power Rankings: Oklahoma State In Control

When you travel to Austin for a Top Ten showdown and come away with the sweep, sure, you will move up. That’s what happened to Oklahoma State. They moved back up in the national polls to No. 3 or No. 4 and moved back to the top of our weekly Big 12 Power Rankings.

As the season moves into its last month, the Big 12 seems to have divided itself into three distinct groups - the top (Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech), the middle bunch (Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia), and the bottom of the pack (Baylor, Kansas State, Kansas).

There’s still a lot of baseball left with two or three conference series remaining. We will see if these three groups stay or if there’s additional movement.

Here’s how our panel of fans representing most Big 12 schools ranks the teams this week:

National rankings listed are based on current rankings by D1Baseball. Team records are through Sunday, April 24, and do not reflect any of this week’s midweek games.

Power Rankings

9. Kansas (18-26, 3-12), last week #9

Kansas is Kansas, and they aren’t moving anywhere on these rankings until basketball season arrives.

8. Kansas State (22-21, 4-11), last week #8

After winning the series over a Top 10 team in Texas, K-State went back to being K-State. They got hammered by Oklahoma in the first two games – 14-2 and 22-10. They found a way to win on Sunday. Winning an upcoming series over Kansas and/or Baylor may only move them up a spot, but don’t expect more than that.

7. Baylor (22-22, 5-13), last week #7

Just like KSU, Baylor got hammered on Friday and Saturday by Texas Tech – 7-1, 11-1, but they found a way, like they usually do, to win on Sunday. Too bad they still have to play the nation’s No. 3 team before the season ends. Maybe, just maybe, they can still get one win on Sunday.

6. West Virginia (26-16, 9-6), last week #5

West Virginia is one of the teams in the league that is struggling for its identity. They won a road series over TCU. They won the two series with Kansas and Baylor, but that doesn’t say much. They lost to Oklahoma State and Texas Tech but pulled off one win in each series. At one point, they were nationally ranked in a couple of polls. Can they make a run? Maybe a postseason bid? Only time will tell.

5. Oklahoma (27-15, 9-6), last week #6

Oklahoma batters can hit. They are hot. The last two weekends, in a series with Kansas and Kansas State, the Sooners went 5-1 and scored a total of 89 runs. That’s averaging 14 runs per game. That’s unreal. Keep swinging like that, and they are bound to move up. It should be an exciting series in Fort Worth, against the Frogs, this weekend.

4. Texas (31-16, 9-9), last week #4

Texas is another enigma. The baseball gods giveth and taketh away. We send prayers to the Texas faithful that they may soon see their way of the valley of the shadow of death. What started as a single injury to their Sunday starter has spiraled into a bullpen of chaos. Texas can win again when the planets align. But if they don’t, they will end up in a regional, losing to one of their new SEC foes.

(Editor’s note: Thanks to die-hard Texas fan Austin for those lines)

3. #9 Texas Tech (31-16, 11-7), last week #3

Like Dory in “Finding Nemo” says, Tech just keeps on swimming. They lose a few unexpected games, but they win the conference series. Despite some of those losses, they’ve stayed at No. 9 in the D1Baseball poll the last couple of weeks. They may not win the conference regular season, but they aren’t going anywhere. They could cause some havoc in the postseason – both in the Big 12 tourney and the Regionals.

2. #24 TCU (27-16, 12-6), last week #1

The yo-yo season continues. After winning two back-to-back Top 5 series, the Frogs traveled to Tallahassee for a nonconference series last week and got clobbered. In the game that looked like they might get it together, Mother Nature said, “not so fast, my friends,” and the game got canceled, erasing a couple of homers and other stats. The Frogs need to sweep Oklahoma and Kansas the next two weekends if they don’t want to end up in a regional in College Station.

1. #3 Oklahoma State (31-13, 13-5), last week #2

Oklahoma State quickly shook off the home loss to TCU and traveled to Austin to claim their dominance in the league. Playing in Austin is tough. But the Pokes showed no signs of that. They swept the No. 10 team. That series win vaulted OSU to the top three or four spots in the nation and sent the Longhorns sliding out of the polls. OSU still has a remaining series with Tech, which will be an interesting one to watch.

Note: Power Rankings are determined by a group of fans representing most of the ten schools currently in the Big 12 Conference.

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