2015 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll (March 15)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Faulkner (Ala.) takes over the No. 1 ranking in the first regular-season edition of the 2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The second regular-season installment will be released on March 22.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000)
• Faulkner (20-4) is No. 1 for the first time since April 21, 2015. The Eagles received nine first-place votes and 489 total points.
• Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (16-2), which won its NAIA record 17th World Series title a season ago, garnered nine first-place votes and 488 total points en route to the No. 2 ranking.
• Lewis-Clark State boasts an NAIA-best 55 all-time top mentions and owns the NAIA’s longest active streak in the Top 25 at 148-straight editions.
• No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett (25-1), No. 4 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) (20-5) and No. 5 Bellevue (Neb.) (17-4) round out the top five.
• No. 6 Westmont (Calif.) (19-3) highlights the positive movement within the poll, as the Warriors jumped 10 spots from last edition. Other notable movement came from Auburn Montgomery, which moved up nine spots, and Bellevue, which shot up seven spots.
• No. 16 Davenport (Mich.) (11-7) had the biggest drop in the Top 25, as it fell 16 spots. No. 15 Oklahoma City and No. 19 Oklahoma Wesleyan dropped ten spots each.
• Six newcomers joined the Top 25 Poll – No. 7 USC Beaufort (S.C.), No. 9 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), No. 10 Jamestown (N.D.), No. 16 Bethel (Tenn.), No. 24 Science & Arts (Okla.) and No. 25 Menlo (Calif.).
• Menlo finds itself in the Top 25 for the first time in school history. MidAmerica Nazarene (May 1) and Bethel (March 27) are ranked for the first time since 2012. Science & Arts was last ranked on May 5, 2013 and USC Beaufort March 10, 2015.
• Four conferences (Southern States Athletic Conference, Golden State Athletic Conference, Appalachian Athletic Conference and Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) lead all leagues with three teams represented each.
• Outside of Lewis-Clark State, nine other teams have been ranked No. 1 in at least two polls: Oklahoma City (32), former member Lubbock Christian (Texas) (13), former member Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (11), Faulkner (9), LSU Shreveport (La.) (6), former member Lee (Tenn.) (6), Cumberland (6) and Tennessee Wesleyan (2).
• Thirty-one teams have been ranked in 2016.
Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.
2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll – No. 1 (March 15)
| RANK |
PRVS^ |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
3 |
Faulkner (Ala.) (9) |
20-4 |
488 |
| 2 |
1 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (9) |
16-2 |
451 |
| 3 |
8 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
25-1 |
443 |
| 4 |
13 |
Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) |
20-5 |
442 |
| 5 |
12 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
17-4 |
426 |
| 6 |
16 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
19-3 |
388 |
| 7 |
NR |
USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
24-3 |
368 |
| 8 |
7 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
19-7 |
362 |
| 9 |
NR |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
15-1 |
340 |
| 10 |
NR |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
23-0 |
318 |
| 11 |
15 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
20-7 |
317 |
| 12 |
14 |
Tennessee Wesleyan |
14-7 |
287 |
| 13 |
4 |
Tabor (Kan.) |
15-8 |
279 |
| 14 |
18 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) |
16-5 |
272 |
| 15 |
5 |
Oklahoma City |
17-8 |
270 |
| 16 |
NR |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
17-3 |
253 |
| 17 |
11 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
16-5 |
245 |
| 18 |
22 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
19-6 |
211 |
| 19 |
9 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
16-7 |
201 |
| 20 |
21 |
Missouri Baptist |
16-6 |
142 |
| 21 |
20 |
Sterling (Kan.) |
17-6 |
136 |
| 22 |
6 |
Davenport (Mich.) |
11-7 |
126 |
| 23 |
23 |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
17-7 |
124 |
| 24 |
NR |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
20-5 |
113 |
| 25 |
NR |
Menlo (Calif.) |
21-8 |
488 |
Dropped from Top 25: St. Thomas (Fla.) (No. 2), The Master’s (Calif.) (No. 10), Northwestern Ohio (No. 17), Campbellsville (Ky.) (No. 19), LSU Alexandria (La.) (No. 24) and Rio Grande (Ohio) (No. 25)
Others receiving votes: Middle Georgia State 101; St. Thomas (Fla.) 98; York (Neb.) 91; Northwestern Ohio 35; The Master’s (Calif.) 28; Georgetown (Ky.) 23;
British Columbia 22; Reinhardt (Ga.) 15; Southwestern Christian (Okla.) 9; Rio Grande (Ohio) 7; Wayland Baptist (Texas) 6; St. Catharine (Ky.) 4; Texas A&M-Texarkana 4; Morningside (Iowa) 3; St. Francis (Ill.) 3; Indiana Tech 3.