2018 NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll — No. 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Faulkner (Ala.) owns the No. 1 ranking in the first regular-season edition of the NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Eagles claimed all 18 first-place votes and 498 total points.
Top 25 Highlights (information dates back to 2000)
• Faulkner rests in the No. 1 spot for the 14th time in program history.
• The Eagles are 20-0 on the young season and are the only undefeated team remaining in NAIA baseball.
• Faulkner returns to the diamond tomorrow against Tennessee Wesleyan before traveling to No. 14 Mobile (Ala.) for a three-game series over the weekend.
• Eleven new teams joined the Top 25 – No. 7 William Jessup (Calif.), No. 11 Bryan (Tenn.), No. 12 Wayland Baptist (Texas), Mobile, No. 16 Jamestown (N.D.), No. 17 Antelope Valley (Calif.), No. 20 William Woods (Mo.), No. 21 Texas A&M-Texarkana, No. 22 Point Park (Pa.), No. 23 Reinhardt (Ga.) and No. 24 Vanguard (Calif.).
• No. 6 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 (14), 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. 1
| RANK |
PRVS* |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
2 |
Faulkner (Ala.) (18) |
20-0 |
498 |
| 2 |
12 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
17-2 |
476 |
| 3 |
4 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
21-2 |
453 |
| 4 |
3 |
Oklahoma City |
13-2 |
447 |
| 5 |
5 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
16-2 |
432 |
| 6 |
1 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
11-3 |
431 |
| 7 |
NR |
William Jessup (Calif.) |
22-5 |
379 |
| 8 |
6 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
16-4 |
377 |
| 9 |
21 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
16-3 |
376 |
| 10 |
11 |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
13-1 |
364 |
| 11 |
RV |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
17-2 |
360 |
| 12 |
NR |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
15-2 |
308 |
| 13 |
10 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
13-5 |
300 |
| 14 |
NR |
Mobile (Ala.) |
17-4 |
297 |
| 15 |
15 |
Middle Georgia State |
17-6 |
239 |
| 16 |
RV |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
13-1 |
193 |
| 17 |
RV |
Antelope Valley (Calif.) |
14-8 |
180 |
| 18 |
23 |
Texas Wesleyan |
12-4 |
169 |
| 19 |
20 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
10-7 |
167 |
| 20 |
NR |
William Woods (Mo.) |
16-5 |
161 |
| 21 |
NR |
Texas A&M-Texarkana |
13-2 |
158 |
| 22 |
NR |
Point Park (Pa.) |
10-1 |
154 |
| 23 |
NR |
Reinhardt (Ga.) |
14-4 |
131 |
| 24 |
NR |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
14-11 |
128 |
| 25 |
24 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
11-4 |
122 |
Others receiving votes: Cumberland (Tenn.) 107; Madonna (Mich.) 103; University of Northwestern Ohio 88; Taylor (Ind.) 63; The Master’s (Calif.) 48; Webber International (Fla.) 41; Tabor (Kan.) 40; LSU Shreveport (La.) 25; Concordia (Mich.) 18; IU Southeast (Ind.) 17; Lyon (Ark.) 13; Avila (Mo.) 9; Georgetown (Ky.) 6; Westmont (Calif.) 4; Blue Mountain (Miss.) 4; Cumberlands (Ky.) 3; Tennessee Wesleyan 3.