It’s Mid-week Mayhem as the Top 3 Teams in the Nation Fall to Mid-majors on the Same Night
One thing that will always ring true when it comes to college baseball - especially early season college baseball - is that no top team, regardless of how good they might be, is ever safe from a mid-major. That couldn’t be more true on Tuesday night as each of the top three teams on the Baseball Focus college baseball top 25 fell to non-power four teams at home.
#1 UCLA hosted San Diego State out of the Mountain West and were beat by a score of 4-3. McNeese out of the Southland conference traveled to Baton Rouge where they handed LSU their first loss of the season by a score of 7-6. For the Sun Belt conference’s Georgia State, it was just a short bus ride across Atlanta where they took on Georgia Tech, handing them their first loss of the season in convincing fashion by a score of 9-4.
Early season mid-week matchups don’t hold a lot of weight for ranked teams, however, they are games that are important to take care of if they’re not taking care of business in their bigger weekend match-ups. Fortunately for UCLA, LSU, and Georgia Tech, they have been taking care of business thus far, so Tuesday night is simply a blip on the radar for these programs. On the other side, these are statement wins for San Diego State, McNeese, and Georgia State and will certainly stand out towards the end of the season when these programs could potentially be looking to make a push at a regional appearance.
For San Diego State on Tuesday night, it was a well-rounded performance featuring some power from the lineup and a few clutch innings from the bullpen. The offense hit three solo home runs as senior Tyce Peterson, sophomore Anthony Marnell IV, and junior Zane Kelly all got on the board for the first time in 2026. The player of the game was undoubtedly senior right-hander Aidan Russell. The starting pitcher for the Aztecs, Alec Belardes, tossed 5.1 innings of three run ball before Russell took over with one out in the sixth. He would then go on to pitch a perfect 3.2 innings while striking out five Bruins and shutting the door on UCLA, securing San Diego State’s fifth win of the season. Across four appearances thus far for Russell, he has given up just one run in eight innings while striking out 12. Certainly an intriguing senior follow. It was San Diego State’s first meeting with UCLA since 2017 and their fourth win in a row against the Bruins.
For McNeese, it took a lot more hands on deck to beat LSU as the Tigers nearly completed the comeback in the bottom of the ninth. Eight different arms took the mound for the Cowboys, only two of which threw at least two innings. Freshman left-hander Jairus Miller led the way on the pitching side of things, throwing three scoreless frames while striking out five hitters and giving up just a walk and a hit. The lineup got the pitching out to a 7-2 lead by the fifth inning and the bullpen managed to piece together the rest of the game. They got it done by the skin of the their teeths though as LSU had runners on first and second with just one out, and after sophomore left-hander Brady Corcoran struck out LSU’s Omar Serna Jr, Seth Dardar flew out on a line drive to the warning track in left field as McNeese escaped with their third win of the season, snapping a five-game losing streak against the Tigers.
For Georgia State, they too were looking to snap a losing streak against an in-state opponent as they had lost their last four meetings with Georgia Tech prior to their blowout win over the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday. For the Panthers, it was all about timely hitting and taking advantage of Georgia Tech’s defensive miscues as they committed three errors. Despite scoring nine, the offense only hit one home run - a two-run shot off the bat of sophomore Lucas Grantham to give Georgia State a lead in the fifth inning in which they would not relinquish. Rather, the offense strung together a total of 12 hits as each hitter in the lineup recorded a hit. Sophomore Wills Maginnis and graduates Adam Haber and Nick Garagozzo all recorded multi-hit games. The Panthers improved to 7-2 on the season following the win.
Although not apart of the top three, it’s also worth noting #6 Arkansas’s home loss to in-state rival Arkansas State, another mid-major making their contributions to this week’s version of mid-week mayhem. It was a bigger win than any of the aforementioned match-ups as the Red Wolves took down the Razorbacks by a score of 12-4, and was their first win over Arkansas in program history after dropping their first five meetings dating back to 2021. The pitching staff pieced the game together with shorter outings from three different pitchers, but it was certainly the offense that will take credit for this one. They hit four home runs as sophomores Ashton Quiller, Lane Walton, and Aidan Houseworth all hit their first home runs of the season while senior Cross Jumper hit his second. Jumper had two additional hits as he was one of two hitters with three hits on the night, the other being fellow senior Cason Campbell. The win brought the Red Wolves to 6-2 on the year who will in fact have a shot at taking down the Razorbacks on consecutive nights as they meet again on Wednesday.
To follow along throughout the rest of the college baseball season, subscribe below!
