2026 College Baseball Top 25 Rankings Update: Week 2

There was no shortage of chaos in week two of the college baseball season, as we saw Kent State knock off Tennessee in Rocky Top, Evansville steal a game from Kentucky, and UCLA dominate a top-10 matchup in L.A. against TCU.

While certain fanbases are ready to put their skipper on the hot seat and smash the panic button, here’s your soft reminder that it’s still early and every coach in the country is ironing out roles and lineups. Let’s get into the highlights from the weekend.

The Top 25 Ranking is based on an aggregate of votes from Just Baseball writers & analysts.

Statement Made

While UCLA was underwhelming in week one, they dominated TCU tape-to-tape in a top-10 matchup, outscoring the Horned Frogs 30-8. Will Gasparino and Roch Cholowsky combined for 16 RBI and six home runs, showing everyone in the country why they are the top team in the country.

Biggest Risers

Like every weekend, teams continue to improve and show out against top competition. Some impress more than others, but here’s a few that really improved their stock this weekend.

While our writers held off on the big jump for Southern Miss last week, the Golden Eagles handled business in Round Rock, knocking off a top-15 Oregon State squad and rounding out their weekend with wins over Purdue and Baylor.

To no surprise, Christian Ostrander has assembled one of the better teams in the country, hunting a tenth consecutive 40-plus win season.

Auburn looked every bit of a top-10 squad in Arlington this weekend after a shaky series against Youngstown State and a midweek loss to Cincinnati. The Tigers bounced back with convincing wins over Kansas State, Florida State, and Louisville.

While in the past the bottleneck for Auburn has been pitching, they seem to be rock solid on the mound, pitching to a team 2.76 ERA to this point.

Miami continues to beat the brakes off of teams in the early portion of the season. There’s always something to be said about taking care of business against teams you’re better than, and then there’s what Miami has done. Currently 9-0 and having outscored opponents 144-37 to this point, it’s been domination from the Canes.

That includes a big-time midweek win over UCF in extra innings that ended in walk-off fashion. They’ll take on #21 Florida next week, and not only do we get a rivalry series, but it will show where both of these teams stand.

Biggest Sliders

Kentucky took a large step backwards this weekend, traveling to a very solid mid-major squad in Evansville where the Purple Aces took the final game of the weekend. Paired with a midweek loss to Morehead State, the Wildcats are out this week.

The loss of Tyler Bell is certainly an important factor, and this team can easily slot back in while they look to bounce back against Western Kentucky and Saint John’s this week.

Oregon State continues to struggle on offense. Dropping two of three games in Round Rock, they find themselves 4-3 to start the season. As an independent team, Oregon State has to win far more games to likely gain a National Seed, and that ship appears to be sailing.

We’re not ready to panic on the Beavers yet, but they need a bounce-back weekend in Frisco against very solid teams yet again in Houston, Alabama, and Iowa.

Tennessee ran into a Midwest buzzsaw in Kent State as the Golden Flash took two of three in Rocky Top. The Golden Flash were able to hold one of the Nation’s best offenses over the last few years to nine runs over three games.

I already feel sorry for whoever draws Kent State in a regional come June because this looks like a complete team. They created a ton of traffic on the bases throughout this series, too.

Coastal Carolina showed some cracks in the armor this weekend during The Battle at the Beach hosted in Conway. After dropping a home midweek to Charleston, the Chants got handled by Illinois on Sunday morning, losing 14-5.

Next week will be a real test for Coastal as we can only hope they’ll have Cam Flukey back to face off with Texas, UTSA, and Ole Miss in the Bruce Bolt Classic.

Others Receiving Votes

Ole Miss put together an extremely impressive weekend against Missouri State, sweeping the series in Oxford and holding down a powerful Bears ballclub.

Next week provides a formative test for the Rebels as they take on Ohio State, Baylor, and Coastal Carolina. At 8-0, another winning week likely punches their ticket to the rankings.

Michigan and West Virginia both receive votes for the second week in a row. They continue to string together really quality baseball but just missed out this week.

Other Key Storylines

UTSA remains undefeated after an impressive sweep of Dallas Baptist, one of the top programs in the country year in and year out, another team that received votes this week.

Arizona continues some early season woes. Dropping three of four to UConn at home, the Wildcats fall to 1-7 after making an Omaha run in 2025.