2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 8 (May 3)
By Scott Barker, Communications and Sports Information Intern
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Georgia Gwinnett captures the No. 1 ranking for a sixth-consecutive edition of the NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The final regular-season installment will be announced May 13 at 1 p.m. CDT. The official announcement of the 46 national championship opening round qualifiers and opening round brackets will occur Friday, May 13 via live selection show. The show will be on NAIA.org at 3 p.m. CDT.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000)
• Georgia Gwinnett received all 18 first-place votes and 498 total points, marking the fourth time this season the Grizzlies were the unanimous choice.
• The Grizzlies are currently riding a 10-game winning streak, including a three-game series sweep of then-No. 5 USC Beaufort (S.C.) on April 22 and 23.
• Georgia Gwinnett – 51-4 prior to Saturday’s game against Fisher (Mass.) – has recorded its third-straight 50-win season. The Grizzlies have already punched at least an at-large spot in to the 2016 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round field as one of the nine host sites.
• Bellevue (Neb.) is No. 2 for the second-straight week after receiving 467 points. The Bruins, 43-9, are winners of 15 of-their-last 17 games.
• Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and Faulkner (Ala.) are tied for third with 461 points. No. 5 Tennessee Wesleyan (439 points) rounds out the top five.
• Faulkner and Lewis-Clark State have been ranked in the top five in every poll this season.
• Lewis-Clark State owns a NAIA-record 56 all-time top mentions and the association’s longest active streak in the Top 25 at 154-consecutive polls.
• Three teams have been ranked No. 1 this season: Faulkner (twice), Lewis-Clark State (once) and Georgia Gwinnett (six times).
• No. 10 Missouri Baptist is the lone newcomer to the top 10. The Spartans have won five-straight en route to a 39-11 record. Missouri Baptist enters the American Midwest Conference postseason tournament as the No. 1 seed and will take on No. 8 seed Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) on Wednesday.
• No. 12 York (Neb.) and No. 19 IU Southeast (Ind.) highlight this week’s positive movement, as both clubs jumped a poll-high four spots from their previous perch.
• No. 20 Madonna (Mich.) – ranked for the first-time since the postseason poll conducted on June 5, 2013 - and No. 24 Wayland Baptist (Texas), which returns to the poll after a two-week hiatus, are the newcomers this week.
• Forty teams have been ranked in 2016.
• Thirteen teams have been ranked in every poll.
• The Southern States Athletic Conference leads all leagues with four teams represented – Faulkner, No. 7 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.), No. 14 Middle Georgia State and No. 23 William Carey (Miss.). The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Sooner Athletic Conference are next with three teams each.
• 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), Georgia Gwinnett (7), LSU Shreveport (La.) (6), former member Lee (Tenn.) (6), Cumberland (6) 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. 8 (May 3)
| RANK |
PRVS^ |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Georgia Gwinnett (18) |
21-4 |
498 |
| 2 |
2 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
43-9 |
467 |
| T3 |
4 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
45-7 |
461 |
| T3 |
3 |
Faulkner (Ala.) |
42-12 |
461 |
| 5 |
5 |
Tennessee Wesleyan |
39-11 |
439 |
| 6 |
6 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
41-9 |
416 |
| 7 |
7 |
Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) |
39-14 |
397 |
| 8 |
8 |
USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
41-10 |
394 |
| 9 |
9 |
Tabor (Kan.) |
41-14 |
370 |
| 10 |
11 |
Missouri Baptist |
37-11 |
353 |
| 11 |
10 |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
47-7 |
334 |
| 12 |
16 |
York (Neb.) |
41-13 |
315 |
| 13 |
13 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
37-13-1 |
307 |
| 14 |
14 |
Middle Georgia State |
39-14 |
284 |
| 15 |
12 |
Sterling (Kan.) |
43-12 |
270 |
| 16 |
17 |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
41-11 |
265 |
| 17 |
18 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) |
38-15 |
228 |
| 18 |
20 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
33-15 |
194 |
| 19 |
23 |
Indiana Southeast |
38-11 |
192 |
| 20 |
RV |
Madonna (Mich.) |
34-14 |
184 |
| 21 |
21 |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
36-16 |
179 |
| 22 |
22 |
Texas Wesleyan |
35-15 |
166 |
| 23 |
19 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
35-17 |
129 |
| 24 |
RV |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
41-14 |
118 |
| 25 |
24 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
33-18 |
102 |
Dropped from Top 25: Davenport (Mich.) (No. 15) and Southwestern Christian (Okla.) (No. 25)
Others receiving votes: Davenport (Mich.) 94; The Master’s (Calif.) 57; MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 53; Midland (Neb.) 45; Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 32; Oklahoma City 31; Central Baptist (Ark.) 17; Webber International (Fla.) 15; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 11; Northwestern Ohio 9; LSU Alexandria (La.) 7; British Columbia (7; Keiser (Fla.) 7; Mobile (Ala.) 5; Southwestern Christian (Okla.) 4; WVU Tech (W. Va.) 4.
^From the 2016 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 7 (April 26)