March 30, 2009

DURHAM, N.C. - Baylor climbed one spot to No. 7 in this week's Baseball America Top 25, the publication announced Monday. The Bears remain the highest-ranked Big 12 Conference team and spend their seventh consecutive week in the top 10.

There was not much movement at the top of the rankings as the top six teams were unchanged: Cal State Fullerton, LSU, Arizona State, Rice, North Carolina and Georgia. Baylor replaced Miami-FL, which dropped two of three at home to Georgia Tech, in the seven spot, while UC Irvine climbed two spots to No. 8. Texas stayed put at No. 9, while Georgia Tech jumped three spots to No. 10.

Other Big 12 schools in this week's Top 25 are 12th-ranked Oklahoma, 14th-ranked Texas A&M and 17th-ranked Oklahoma State, which climbed six spots after a 4-0 week that included winning the first two games of its series against Missouri.

Baylor plays two midweek games this week, hosting Texas State at 6:30 p.m. CDT Tuesday and Prairie View A&M at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Bears then travel to Kansas over the weekend for a three-game Big 12 series.

This is the second meeting between Baylor and Texas State this season; the Bears won a wild 22-17 affair at San Marcos two weeks ago. Baylor holds a 42-14 advantage in the all-time series, including a 32-11 lead in games played in Waco. Texas State has not won in Waco since 2004.

RHP Trent Blank (1-0, 8.78 ERA) has been announced as the tentative starter. It would be career start No. 2 for Blank, who struck out nine over 5.0 innings for a victory against Houston Baptist earlier this season.

Baylor and Prairie View A&M have met four times previously with the Bears winning each game. The teams last met in an elimination game at the 2007 NCAA Houston Regional; the Bears won that game 9-2. Baylor has not announced a starter for Wednesday's game.

BASEBALL AMERICA TOP 25
March 30, 2009
1. Cal State Fullerton (18-4)
2. LSU (21-6)
3. Arizona State (19-4)
4. Rice (17-7)
5. North Carolina (20-6)
6. Georgia (22-3)
7. BAYLOR (17-6)
8. UC Irvine (16-7)
9. Texas (17-7)
10. Georgia Tech (18-4)
11. Miami-FL (20-7)
12. Oklahoma (22-6)
13. Arkansas (19-5)
14. Texas A&M (18-9)
15. Ole Miss (16-8)
16. East Carolina (20-5)
17. Oklahoma State (19-7)
18. New Mexico (24-4)
19. Oregon State (15-6)
20. Florida (18-8)
21. San Diego State (18-9)
22. TCU (15-9)
23. Cal Poly (17-7)
24. Virginia (22-4)
25. Minnesota (14-7)

2009 Baylor opponents in bold.