2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 2 (March 22)
By Scott Barker, Communications and Sports Information Intern
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Faulkner (Ala.) remains the No. 1 team in the second regular-season edition of the 2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The third regular-season installment will be released on March 29.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000)
• Faulkner (26-4) is No. 1 for the second-straight week, as the Eagles received 17 first-place votes and 498 total points.
• Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (20-2), which won its NAIA record 17th World Series title a season ago, garnered the final first-place vote and 481 total points en route to the No. 2 ranking.
• Lewis-Clark State boasts an NAIA-best 56 all-time top mentions and owns the NAIA’s longest active streak in the Top 25 at 149-straight editions.
• No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett (29-1), No. 4 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) (25-6) and No. 5 Bellevue (Neb.) (19-4) round out the top five.
• There was no movement within the top eight from last week’s poll.
• No. 14 Missouri Baptist (Mo.) (20-6) highlights the positive movement within the poll, as the Spartans jumped six spots from the last edition.
• MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (17-3) had the biggest drop in the Top 25, as it fell four spots to No. 13.
• Four newcomers joined the Top 25 Poll – No. 16 York (Neb.), No. 19 Middle Georgia State, No. 24 William Carey (Miss.) and No. 25 St. Thomas (Fla.).
• Middle Georgia State finds itself in the Top 25 for the first time in school history. York and William Carey are ranked for the first time since the 2014 preseason poll. St. Thomas (Fla.) was ranked in the 2016 Preseason Poll.
• The Southern States Athletic Conference leads all leagues with four teams represented – Faulkner, Auburn Montgomery, Middle Georgia State and William Carey. The Sun Conference – No. 7 USC Beaufort (S.C.), No. 11 Keiser (Fla.) and St. Thomas) – and Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference – No. 12 Tabor (Kan.), York and No. 21 Sterling (Kan.) – have 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 (10), LSU Shreveport (La.) (6), former member Lee (Tenn.) (6), Cumberland (6) and Tennessee Wesleyan (2).
• Thirty-five teams have been ranked in 2016.
• The 59th annual Baseball World Series will be held in Lewiston, Idaho for the 17th-straight season and the 26th time overall. For more information on the NAIA Baseball World Series, click
here.
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click
here.
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’ Top 25 Poll – No. 2 (March 22)
| RANK |
PRVS^ |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Faulkner (Ala.) (17) |
26-4 |
498 |
| 2 |
2 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (1) |
20-2 |
481 |
| 3 |
3 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
29-1 |
459 |
| 4 |
4 |
Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) |
25-6 |
445 |
| 5 |
5 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
19-4 |
439 |
| 6 |
6 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
23-4 |
423 |
| 7 |
7 |
USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
25-4 |
396 |
| 8 |
8 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
22-9 |
363 |
| 9 |
10 |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
26-1 |
360 |
| 10 |
12 |
Tennessee Wesleyan |
18-7 |
355 |
| 11 |
11 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
23-6 |
353 |
| 12 |
13 |
Tabor (Kan.) |
21-8 |
320 |
| 13 |
9 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
17-3 |
301 |
| 14 |
20 |
Missouri Baptist |
20-6 |
299 |
| 15 |
15 |
Oklahoma City |
21-9 |
268 |
| 16 |
RV |
York (Neb.) |
22-5 |
241 |
| 17 |
14 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) |
20-7 |
235 |
| 18 |
18 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
21-7 |
232 |
| 19 |
RV |
Middle Georgia State |
24-8 |
222 |
| 20 |
23 |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
21-7 |
190 |
| 21 |
21 |
Sterling (Kan.) |
20-7 |
154 |
| 22 |
22 |
Davenport (Mich.) |
12-7 |
143 |
| 23 |
17 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
18-9 |
120 |
| 24 |
RV |
William Carey (Miss.) |
20-8 |
95 |
| 25 |
RV |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
20-11 |
91 |
Dropped from Top 25: Bethel (Tenn.) (No. 16), Oklahoma Wesleyan (No. 19), Science & Arts (Okla.) and Menlo (Calif.) (No. 25)
Others receiving votes: College of Idaho 83; Menlo (Calif.) 64; St. Catharine (Ky.) 58; Indiana Tech 57; Science & Arts (Okla.) 52; Oklahoma Wesleyan 50; Bethel (Tenn.) 42; Wayland Baptist (Texas) 10; Georgetown (Ky.) 8; St. Francis (Ill.) 8; Morningside (Iowa) 7; Mobile (Ala.) 5; The Master’s (Calif.) 4.
^From the 2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 1 (March 15