2018 NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll — No. 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the fourth-straight edition, Faulkner (Ala.) headlines the 2018 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. Faulkner was the unanimous pick, receiving all 17 first-place votes.
Top 25 Highlights (information dates back to 2000)
• The No. 1 ranking is the 17th in program history for the Eagles.
• Faulkner comes into the week riding a nine-game winning streak and boasts a 41-3 overall record. The Eagles close out the Southern States Athletic Conference portion of their schedule this weekend with a three-game series at No. 14 Middle Georgia State.
• Three new teams joined the Top 25 – No. 23 Tennessee Wesleyan, No. 24 LSU Shreveport (La.) and No. 24 Westmont (Calif.).
• No. 7 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 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 (17), 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 leads all leagues with four teams ranked in the Top 25 – Faulkner, No. 11 Mobile (Ala.), Middle Georgia State and No. 19 William Carey (Miss.).
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. 4 (April 17, 2018)
| RANK |
PRVS* |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Faulkner (Ala.) (17) |
41-3 |
467 |
| 2 |
2 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
34-8 |
445 |
| 3 |
3 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
47-3 |
441 |
| 4 |
5 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
42-4 |
425 |
| T5 |
9 |
Oklahoma City |
34-5 |
393 |
| T5 |
6 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
41-4 |
393 |
| 7 |
4 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
29-8 |
390 |
| 8 |
7 |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
33-6 |
360 |
| 9 |
8 |
William Jessup (Calif.) |
34-13 |
346 |
| 10 |
10 |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
32-11 |
323 |
| 11 |
13 |
Mobile (Ala.) |
33-10 |
312 |
| 12 |
12 |
Lyon (Ark.) |
29-12 |
263 |
| 13 |
23 |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
39-4 |
261 |
| 14 |
17 |
Middle Georgia State |
34-13 |
260 |
| 15 |
14 |
Point Park (Pa.) |
31-4 |
253 |
| T16 |
16 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
31-14 |
237 |
| T16 |
15 |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
31-5 |
237 |
| 18 |
18 |
Antelope Valley (Calif.) |
31-11-1 |
226 |
| 19 |
11 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
28-15 |
205 |
| 20 |
19 |
Texas Wesleyan |
31-9 |
163 |
| 21 |
20 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
27-12 |
161 |
| 22 |
24 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
29-8 |
150 |
| 23 |
RV |
Tennessee Wesleyan |
27-17 |
100 |
| 24 |
RV |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
32-13 |
97 |
| 25 |
RV |
Westmont (Calif.) |
29-14 |
90 |
Dropped from the Top 25 Poll: Texas A&M Texarkana (No. 21); Madonna (Mich.) (No. 22); Friends (Kan.) (No. 25)
Others receiving votes: Madonna (Mich.) 88; Friends (Kan.) 82; Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 70; Cumberland (Tenn.) 51; Webber International (Fla.) 34; IU Southeast (Ind.) 25; Reinhardt (Ga.) 24; Texas A&M Texarkana 18; Indiana Tech 12; Tabor (Kan.) 9; Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) 7; Columbia (Mo.) 5; Mayville State (N.D.) 4; Taylor (Ind.) 3; Vanguard (Calif.) 3.
*Ranking from 2018 Poll No. 3 (April 3, 2018)