2018 NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll — No. 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Faulkner (Ala.) extends its run at the top to three-straight polls, as the Eagles claim the No. 1 ranking in the third regular-season edition of the 2018 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. Faulkner garnered all 18 first-place votes and 498 total points.
Top 25 Highlights (information dates back to 2000)
• Faulkner owns the No. 1 ranking for the 16th time in program history.
• The Eagles enter the week coming off a successful homestand against No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett. Faulkner won two-of-three games in the series to push its record to 33-3.
• The Eagles have nine games remaining on their regular-season schedule, including a showdown with Tennessee Wesleyan on April 11.
• Two new teams joined the Top 25 – No. 23 Cumberlands (Ky.) and No. 25 Friends (Kan.). Friends is listed in the Top 25 for the first time since April 8, 2014, while Cumberlands was ranked as recently as last season. The Patriots enter the week riding a 25-game winning streak.
• No. 4 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 (16), 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 William Carey (Miss.), No. 13 Mobile (Ala.) and No. 17 Middle Georgia State.
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. 3 (April 3, 2018)
| RANK |
PRVS* |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Faulkner (Ala.) (18) |
33-3 |
498 |
| 2 |
2 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
26-7 |
475 |
| 3 |
3 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
40-2 |
473 |
| 4 |
5 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
24-5 |
439 |
| 5 |
7 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
34-4 |
429 |
| 6 |
4 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
31-4 |
421 |
| 7 |
8 |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
27-4 |
408 |
| 8 |
6 |
William Jessup (Calif.) |
33-8 |
380 |
| 9 |
10 |
Oklahoma City |
27-4 |
371 |
| 10 |
9 |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
28-7 |
359 |
| 11 |
11 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
25-10 |
337 |
| 12 |
20 |
Lyon (Ark.) |
26-7 |
293 |
| 13 |
14 |
Mobile (Ala.) |
30-10 |
284 |
| 14 |
16 |
Point Park (Pa.) |
25-2 |
268 |
| 15 |
12 |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
27-4 |
266 |
| 16 |
13 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
25-11 |
264 |
| 17 |
15 |
Middle Georgia State |
28-11 |
250 |
| 18 |
17 |
Antelope Valley (Calif.) |
27-9-1 |
233 |
| 19 |
18 |
Texas Wesleyan |
25-7 |
220 |
| 20 |
19 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
18-9 |
192 |
| 21 |
21 |
Texas A&M-Texarkana |
26-8 |
175 |
| 22 |
22 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
25-7 |
163 |
| 23 |
RV |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
29-3 |
145 |
| 24 |
24 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
23-8 |
133 |
| 25 |
RV |
Friends (Kan.) |
24-10 |
112 |
Dropped from the Top 25 Poll: Wayland Baptist (Texas) (No. 23); Cumberlands (Tenn.) (No. 25)
Others receiving votes: Westmont (Calif.) 69; Reinhardt (Ga.) 64; IU Southeast (Ind.) 54; Cumberland (Tenn.) 46; Columbia (Mo.) 32; LSU Shreveport (La.) 27; Tennessee Wesleyan 26; Webber International (Fla.) 23; University of Northwestern Ohio 6; Vanguard (Calif.) 3.
*Ranking from 2018 Poll No. 2 (March 20, 2018)