Pair of losses send LC baseball to No. 2 in NAIA Poll
Zachary Shore, LCSC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics announced the first regular-season edition of the NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll on Tuesday afternoon and Lewis-Clark State College came in at No. 2.
The Warriors, who sit at 16-2 on the year and lead the NAIA West with a 7-2 mark, received 9-of-18 first-place votes and 451 total points in the poll. LCSC boasts an NAIA-best 55 all-time top mentions and owns the NAIA's longest active streak in the Top 25 at 148-straight mentions.
Lewis-Clark State was the only NAIA West program mentioned in the Top 25 while British Columbia, who has one of two wins over the Warriors this season, is 32nd, receiving 22 votes.
The poll saw a ton of movement from the Nov. 10 preseason rankings as six teams dropped from the rankings including then-No. 2 and 2015 runner-up, St. Thomas (Fla.). Faulkner (Ala.) grabbed the top spot in the poll with the remaining first-place votes and 488 total points. Georgia Gwinnett jumped five spots to No. 3 with Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) and Westmont (Calif.) climbing nine and 10 spots, respectively, to round out the top five.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.
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.