No love for the Eagles in the polls

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Trevor Mcnaboe

The Georgia Southern University baseball team is one of the best teams in the state of Georgia, if not the Southeast. However, a 14-2 start hasn’t caught the attention of national polls.

The Eagles have fallen victim to the perception bug that has traditional powers such as California State University Fullerton, University of California Los Angeles and Clemson University all with undeserved rankings of Nos. 8, 15 and 17, respectively.

Don’t believe the hype that’s brewing in Statesboro? Let’s take a look at how the Eagles stack up against the rest of the country.

GSU is No. 1 in the nation in batting average coming in with a .345, second in the nation with 153 runs scored, and wait for it, first in the nation with 23 home runs this year, not to mention first in hits with 199 through 16 games.

The Eagles are also in the top five in the nation in stolen bases and runs scored per game.

GSU is not just that small school in rural Georgia. It is traditionally very good at baseball and even has the alumni to show for it. Most recently former outfielder Victor Roache was drafted in the first round of the 2012, and former pitcher Chris Beck was drafted in the second round of that same draft.

GSU’s baseball program has made 13 NCAA regional appearances, won 10 Southern Conference championships and even made two College World Series appearances.

The last time the Eagles went 14-2 to start the season they made it to the 2009 NCAA regional that was hosted in Columbia, S.C., and finished the year a solid 42-17.

So come on, National College Baseball Writers Association, you can talk about the best players being on certain teams and display your certain biases, but what’s blatantly obvious are the facts and stats. Check them every once in awhile.