NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll — No. 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the second-straight edition, Faulkner (Ala.) claims the No. 1 ranking in the 2018 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Eagles garnered 14-of-18 first-place votes and 495 total points.
Top 25 Highlights (information dates back to 2000)
• Led by one of the NAIA’s top pitching staff, the Faulkner rests in the No. 1 spot for the 15th time in program history.
• The Eagles are 28-2 on the season with their only losses coming to No. 14 Mobile (Ala.) – one of which was a 5-4 extra innings defeat. Faulkner has won six-straight entering Tuesday.
• The Eagles return to action Friday with the first of a three-game series against Blue Mountain (Miss.).
• No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett claimed the other four first-place votes.
• Three new teams joined the Top 25 this edition – No. 20 Lyon (Ark.), No. 22 Madonna (Mich.) and No. 25 Cumberland (Tenn.). Lyon snaps the longest drought among the trio, as the Scots last mention came on June 5, 2013.
• No. 5 Lewis-Clark State leads all active members with 60 total No. 1 mentions, dating back to 2000. Ten other teams have been ranked No. 1 in at least two polls: Oklahoma City (34), Faulkner (15), former member Lubbock Christian (Texas) (13), former member Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (11), Georgia Gwinnett (8), LSU Shreveport (La.) (6), former member Lee (Tenn.) (6), Cumberland (Tenn.) (6) and Tennessee Wesleyan (2).
• The Southern States Athletic Conference and the Sooner Athletic Conference both have four teams represented in the poll, which is the most among sponsoring conferences.
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 rating) 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 appear on.
• Teams that receive only one point on the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
• The frequency of the polls is bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) prior to the 2016-17 academic season. This change allows raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work between rating periods.
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.
2018 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 2 (March 20, 2018)
| RANK |
PRVS* |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Faulkner (Ala.) (14) |
28-2 |
495 |
| 2 |
2 |
Georgia Gwinnett (4) |
23-4 |
485 |
| 3 |
3 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
34-2 |
466 |
| 4 |
5 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
24-3 |
441 |
| 5 |
6 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
20-5 |
426 |
| 6 |
7 |
William Jessup (Calif.) |
29-6 |
417 |
| 7 |
9 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
26-3 |
406 |
| 8 |
10 |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
20-3 |
390 |
| 9 |
11 |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
23-4 |
363 |
| 10 |
4 |
Oklahoma City |
20-5 |
351 |
| 11 |
8 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
19-8 |
335 |
| 12 |
16 |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
23-1 |
327 |
| 13 |
13 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
22-6 |
308 |
| 14 |
14 |
Mobile (Ala.) |
22-8 |
283 |
| 15 |
15 |
Middle Georgia State |
23-9 |
250 |
| 16 |
22 |
Point Park (Pa.) |
18-1 |
244 |
| 17 |
17 |
Antelope Valley (Calif.) |
20-9-1 |
241 |
| 18 |
18 |
Texas Wesleyan |
18-7 |
225 |
| 19 |
19 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
16-8 |
201 |
| 20 |
RV |
Lyon (Ark.) |
18-7 |
178 |
| 21 |
21 |
Texas A&M-Texarkana |
20-6 |
146 |
| 22 |
RV |
Madonna (Mich.) |
21-6 |
139 |
| 23 |
12 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
18-9 |
124 |
| 24 |
25 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
18-5 |
119 |
| 25 |
RV |
Cumberland (Tenn.) |
18-8 |
109 |
Dropped from the Top 25 Poll: William Woods (Mo.) (No. 20); Reinhardt (Ga.) (No. 23); Vanguard (Calif.) (No. 24).
Others receiving votes: Reinhardt (Ga.) 83; William Woods (Mo.) 74; Taylor (Ind.) 64; Vanguard (Calif.) 39; Cumberlands (Ky.) 36; Tennessee Wesleyan 29; IU Southeast (Ind.) 27; Friends (Kan.) 21; Florida Memorial 14; University of Northwestern Ohio 12; Westmont (Calif.) 8; Corban (Ore.) 6; Columbia (Mo.) 5; Blue Mountain (Miss.) 5; Webber International (Fla.) 3.