UC Davis' 3-1 week against No. 3 Stanford and No. 23 Long Beach State earned the Aggies consideration outside the top-25 in the rivals.com college baseball poll and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.
UCD catcher Jake Jefferies and third baseman Ty Kelly appear on rivals.com's power rankings this week, rating the best players at their positions. Kelly is 14th among third baseman Jefferies is 15th among catchers.
Kelly (.415), Ryan Scoma (.381) and Jefferies (.379) occupy the top three spots in the Big West for average.
Baseball America writer Aaron Fitt predicted the field of 64 last week and projected UC Davis would be in the Stanford regional, along with Pepperdine and Lipscomb.
Speaking of Fitt, he was asked a question about why the Aggies weren't ranked in the top-25 this week and this is what he said:
"What's really hurting Davis, as far as the rankings go, is that it lost its last two series before this weekend. I do like that 7-5 mark against the top 25, though. The Aggies really do look like a regional team to me."
UCD ends an eight-game stretch against nationally ranked opponents on Tuesday when it travels to Cal (29-15-2). The Bears are 19-5-2 at home and feature top hitters Josh Satin (.401, 15 homers, 45 RBIs) and David Cooper (.389, 18, 52). Win or lose, the Aggies' matchup with UC Riverside this weekend will loom larger. The Highlanders have been one of the hottest teams since conference play began after an awful preseason.
Also, the Aggies moved up to 41st in RPI this week, according to boydsworld.com. UCD is actually just a spot ahead of Long Beach. Fullerton is 13th, Irvine is 20th and Santa Barbara is 63rd this week.
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