Miami has held on to the top spot in PG Crosschecker’s top 50 college rankings for five straight weeks now after sweeping St. Mary’s (Calif.) over the weekend.

Freshman lefthander Chris Hernandez (8-0, 2.70) had another strong performance for the Hurricanes, throwing five innings of one-run ball en route to a 10-6 victory on Friday. His performance on the mound would be outdone over the weekend, though, by sophomore lefthander Eric Erickson (7-0, 2.83), who threw seven scoreless innings on Saturday, allowing only two hits and striking out seven.

As usual, the bats were going for the Hurricanes with junior outfielder Dennis Raben (.314-6-34) going 7-for-13 over the weekend and junior first baseman Yonder Alonso (.384-14-50) going 4-for-6 with two home runs. Alonso, a projected first-round pick in June, has now walked a staggering 53 times on the year and leads a Hurricane offense that is hitting .337 as a team.

It was a quiet weekend for No. 2 North Carolina (38-8, 18-5), which took the week off for exams, but the Tar Heels are primed to take on Miami in an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown in Coral Gables, Fla., on May 15-17—the final weekend of the ACC regular season.

No. 5 Florida State (39-7, 21-5), a third ACC school in the top five, took the first two games of a three-game series from struggling Clemson (24-22-1, 10-15-1) over the weekend and wrapped up the series with a win on Monday. Junior catcher Buster Posey (.460-14-54), a possible No. 1 pick in the draft in June, continues to pile up huge numbers for the Seminoles and will be one of the favorites for national player of the year honors. Clemson will be in the hunt for one of the final two spots in the ACC Tournament, which will also have a big impact on NCAA at-large selections.

In Pacific-10 Conference play over the weekend, No. 3 Arizona State (37-8, 12-6) took two of three games from UCLA. Even without the services injured junior first baseman Ike Davis (.401-15-62), the Sun Devils offense continued to hammer opposing pitchers. Junior third baseman Brett Wallace (.404-15-59) had a big weekend, going 7-for-13 with three home runs against the Bruins. At 24-20 overall and 7-8 in conference play, UCLA will need to finish strong to qualify for the NCAA Tournament as the Pac-10 does not have a postseason tournament.

A week after being swept by Arizona State, No. 17 California (29-15-2, 9-9) rebounded by taking two of three games from No. 21 Arizona (31-15, 8-10). The duo of junior first baseman David Cooper (.389-15-52) and senior second baseman Josh Satin (.401-15-45) continue to put up All-America-type numbers for the Golden Bears.

Ninth-ranked Georgia (31-15-1, 17-6-1) continued to roll through Southeastern Conference play by taking two of three games from No. 36 Mississippi (31-19, 12-12). Junior shortstop Gordon Beckham (.412-22-52, 16 SB) homered in both wins for the Bulldogs and is positioning himself as one of the top picks in the draft.

Aside from Georgia, the SEC is very balanced again this year with Mississippi State (19-28, 7-17) the only team without 10 conference wins. No. 13 Vanderbilt (34-13, 14-9) has the second-best conference record in the SEC after sweeping in-state rival Tennessee (25-23, 11-13) over the weekend.

No. 15 South Carolina (33-15, 13-11) took two of three games from No. 28 Florida (28-18, 13-11). Junior first baseman Justin Smoak (.401-19-55), another projected first-round pick, continues to pile up big numbers for the Gamecocks. He has 58 career home runs in less than three years.

Despite seeing its 13-game winning streak come to a close, No. 11 San Diego (37-13, 15-3) had another big week in the West Coast Conference, taking two of three games from No. 27 Pepperdine (28-15, 9-5). Junior lefthander Brian Matusz (6 IP, 10 H, 5 R), who could be the first pitcher drafted in June, was uncharacteristically roughed up Friday night in a 5-2 loss to Pepperdine. Matusz’s performance didn’t hurt the Toreros much though as junior lefthander Josh Romanski (9-0, 3.66) and freshman righthander Kyle Blair (6-3, 3.86) responded with big outings on Saturday and Sunday. Romanski (6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) threw a complete game on Saturday in leading USD to a 9-1 victory, while Blair threw 7.2 scoreless innings (2 H, 1 BB, 7 K) on Sunday en route to a 2-0 victory.

No. 29 LSU (32-16-1, 12-11-1), No. 41 UC Davis (29-16, 9-6), No. 42 Washington (28-16, 8-7), No. 45 New Orleans (34-13, 15-8), No. 49 Furman (29-15, 15-6) and No. 50 Santa Clara (29-17, 9-6) all joined the rankings this week. LSU made the biggest splash with a three-game sweep of No. 31 Kentucky. UC Davis also had a big week by winning a weekend series over No. 33 Long Beach State (27-17, 9-6) and a mid-week matchup over No. 14 Stanford (27-15-1, 10-5). No. 42 Washington went on the road and swept a struggling USC (21-25, 7-11) squad. New Orleans also is one of the nation’s hottest teams, winning nine straight contests including a weekend sweep over Florida Atlantic in Sun Belt action.

Teams that fell out of the rankings this week were College of Charleston, UCLA, Elon, Purdue, Louisiana-Monroe and Dallas Baptist.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Josh Mazzola, 1b, Missouri State. The senior first baseman had a huge week for the Bears, leading Missouri State to a sweep over Indiana State and a 3-1 record for the week. Mazzola homered in all four games, including five home runs in his team’s weekend series against Indiana State. For the week, Mazzola ended up with six home runs and 14 RBIs, while scoring eight times. He improved his batting average to .277 on the year with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Kenn Kasparek, rhp, Texas. After sitting out the 2007 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Kasparek seems to be back on course with two masterful performances in the last week. On Tuesday, the red-shirt junior became the 20^th pitcher in Longhorns history to throw a no-hitter in an 11-0 victory over Texas State. Kasparek threw to the minimum of 27 batters, hitting a batter in the seventh inning which later resulted in a double play. His line for the game included nine strikeouts and no walks.

If a no-hitter wasn’t enough, Kasparek threw eight shutout innings in leading Texas to a 2-0 victory over Baylor on Sunday. For the game, Kasparek allowed three hits with one walk while striking out nine. His numbers for the week: 17 innings, three hits, one walk, 18 strikeouts. For the year, Kasparek improved to 4-3, 3.70.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Louisiana State. The Tigers, five-time national champions in the 1990s, stormed into the rankings this week at No. 29 after sweeping their second straight SEC series over a ranked opponent. LSU went on the road and swept No. 31 Kentucky, a week after sweeping No. 15 South Carolina. The Tigers have now won nine straight, including a 5-3 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday. Two weeks ago, LSU was sitting at the bottom of the SEC, but now has a half-game lead in the SEC West over Alabama and Mississippi. Junior first baseman Matt Clark belted a two-run home run in top of the ninth to lead the Tigers back from an 8-3 deficit to an 9-8 lead in Sunday’s game. Clark (.316-16-35) and sophomore outfielder Blake Dean (.331-10-36) are leading an LSU offense that has hit 58 home runs as a team.