2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 5 - Cascade Collegiate Conference Skip To Main Content

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2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 5

2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 5

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By Alan Grosbach, Manager of Communications and Sports Information
Article ImageKANSAS CITY, Mo. – Georgia Gwinnett garners the No. 1 ranking for a third-straight week in the NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The sixth regular-season edition will be released April 19.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000)
• Fueled by wins in 17 of its last 18 games, Georgia Gwinnett claimed all 18 first-place votes and 498 points en route to the program’s fourth top billing in school history. The Grizzlies were the unanimous No. 1 for a second-straight week.
• Georgia Gwinnett brings an NAIA-best 42-2 record into the week with its only losses coming against Madonna (Mich.), 8-5, on March 12 and at then-No. 8 Tennessee Wesleyan, 13-8, on April 5.
• The Grizzlies return to the field Tuesday against No. 4 Faulkner (Ala.), before traveling home to play No. 8 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) on Wednesday. Georgia Gwinnett beat the Eagles, 3-1, on March 22 in a top five matchup earlier this season.
• Three teams have held the No. 1 ranking this season: Faulkner, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and Georgia Gwinnett.
• The remainder of the top five held strong for a second-straight week with No. 2 Lewis-Clark State (482 points), No. 3 Bellevue (Neb.) (464 points), Faulkner (449 points) and No. 5 USC Beaufort (S.C.) (422 points) making up the group.
• Among the top five, defending national champion Lewis-Clark State rides the most impressive winning streak into the week. The Warriors have won nine-straight, including a four-game series sweep of the College of Idaho over the weekend.
• Lewis-Clark State owns an NAIA record 56 all-time top mentions and the association’s longest active streak in the Top 25 at 151-consecutive polls.
• No. 14 Middle Georgia State and No. 20 Sterling (Kan.) each jumped a poll-high three spots this edition. The Knights vault is due in large part to winning nine of their last 11 games, including taking two-of-three against a top 10 Auburn Montgomery team on March 25 – 26. Sterling has won seven games in-a-row.
• No team fell more than two places in the poll.
• No. 22 William Carey (Miss.) and No. 23 Science & Arts (Okla.) are this edition’s newcomers. Both clubs were ranked earlier this season.
• Thirty-six teams have been ranked in 2016.
• The Southern States Athletic Conference leads all leagues with four teams represented – Faulkner, No. 8 Auburn Montgomery, Middle Georgia State and William Carey. The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference – No. 12 Tabor (Kan.), No. 18 York (Neb.) and Sterling – is second with three teams.
• Outside of Lewis-Clark State, 10 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), Georgia Gwinnett (4) and Tennessee Wesleyan (2).
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. 5 (April 12)
RANK PRVS^ SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) RECORD TOTAL POINTS
1 1 Georgia Gwinnett (18) 42-2 498
2 2 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 34-5 482
3 3 Bellevue (Neb.) 31-6 464
4 4 Faulkner (Ala.) 34-10 449
5 5 USC Beaufort (S.C.) 33-6 422
6 8 Tennessee Wesleyan 29-9 419
7 7 Westmont (Calif.) 31-7 418
8 6 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) 31-11 381
9 10 Jamestown (N.D.) 37-3 365
10 9 Missouri Baptist 31-8 349
11 13 Vanguard (Calif.) 30-9-1 331
12 11 Tabor (Kan.) 30-13 321
13 12 Oklahoma City 31-12 311
14 17 Middle Georgia State 33-11 270
15 16 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 29-8 266
16 14 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 30-11 247
17 15 Bryan (Tenn.) 30-11 236
18 18 York (Neb.) 29-11 229
19 21 Campbellsville (Ky.) 25-11 226
20 23 Sterling (Kan.) 32-11 192
21 20 Davenport (Mich.) 23-8 180
22 RV William Carey (Miss.) 29-13 160
23 RV Science & Arts (Okla.) 31-10 121
24 25 St. Thomas (Fla.) 25-14 112
25 24 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 28-16 89

Dropped from Top 25: Keiser (Fla.) (No. 19), Wayland Baptist (Texas) (No. 22) 

Others receiving votes: Indiana Tech 86; IU Southeast (Ind.) 66; Keiser (Fla.) 58; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 49; LSU Shreveport (La.) 40; Oklahoma Wesleyan 24; Southwestern Christian (Okla.) 19; Midland (Neb.) 16; St. Catharine (Ky.) 11; Southeastern (Fla.) 9; The Master’s (Calif.) 7; Mobile (Ala.) 6. 

^From the 2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 4 (April 5)
 

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