Several of the nation's leading baseball authorities have the Highlanders baseball team ranked among the top 25 in the country, or on the verge of breaking into the rankings.
www.boydsworld.com has UCR ranked 16th in the nation through games played on March 12;
the most recent National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll has the Highlanders in the "also receiving votes" category;"
rivals.com has UCR listed among "others considered;"
the USA Today/Coaches Poll has them ranked 30th in the nation; and Baseball America has the Highlanders just outside their Top-25.
Aaron Fitt at Baseball America posted an online chat this week on the Baseball America website where he answered a question about UCR.
Q: Paul from Northern California asks:
Aaron, What are your thoughts on UC Riverside, started the season 10-3 against a legit schedule, lost to Oregon State Saturday, but shutout Ok. State and swept Texas Tech.....time for them to crack the top 25?
A: Aaron Fitt:
I've been extremely impressed with the Highlanders—one of the nation's biggest surprises so far. We had a long debate in today's top 25 meeting about Riverside vs. Santa Barbara, and we wound up going with the Gauchos because we believe in their talent a little more and had them as a borderline top 25 team entering the year. Riverside had to come from farther back, moving from the 75-100 range up to the 25-30 range.