Southeastern (Fla.) remains at the top in final poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Southeastern (Fla.) earned 13 of the 18 first-place votes to secure the top spot in the final NAIA Baseball Top 25 of the season. The Fire have been the No. 1 team in every poll this season, including the preseason edition on November 6.
Tennessee Wesleyan received four first-place votes and remained in the No. 2 spot for the second consecutive poll. Faulkner (Ala.) swapped spots with Georgia Gwinnett from the April 16 edition in the No. 3 spot. The Eagles have won eight consecutive games heading into the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament.
Georgia Gwinnett and Cumberlands (Ky.) round-out the top five while Science and Arts (Okla.) jumped one spot to No. 7. The Drovers received one first-place vote with an impressive 40-10 overall record.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999)
- Southeastern (Fla.) is riding a seven-game winning streak entering The Sun Conference Tournament. The Fire enter that tournament as the No. 1 overall seed and will open play on Thursday against No. 6-seed Thomas (Ga.)
- The Fire rank as the top doubles team in the nation with 149 on the year. The squad from Lakeland, Fla., is averaging over 2.7 doubles per game.
- Tennessee Wesleyan earned the No. 1-seed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament over No. 16-ranked Bryan (Tenn.). Braden Mosely has been a big part of that success this season. The senior outfielder from Moline, Ill., is ranked No. 3 in the nation in slugging percentage (.849).
- Bryan (Tenn.) made the biggest jump from No. 23 to No. 16 this week.
- William Jessup (Calif.) and Arizona Christian are the newcomers to the poll this week. This is the first poll that the Warriors have been in the Top 25 in since being ranked No. 24 on March 5. This is the appearance in the Top 25 for the Firestorm this season.
- Lewis-Clark State leads all active members with 59 total No. 1 mentions since 2000. Ten other teams have been ranked No. 1 in at least two polls: Oklahoma City (34), Faulkner (19), 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), Tennessee Wesleyan (2) and Southeastern (7).
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.
2019 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Final (April 30)
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Southeastern (Fla.) [13] | 47-8 | 494 |
| 2 | 2 | Tennessee Wesleyan [4] | 44-8 | 485 |
| 3 | 4 | Faulkner (Ala.) | 42-10 | 461 |
| 4 | 3 | Georgia Gwinnett | 40-11 | 443 |
| 5 | 5 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 43-6 | 429 |
| 6 | 6 | St. Thomas (Fla.) | 42-11 | 421 |
| 7 | 8 | Science & Arts (Okla.) [1] | 40-10 | 414 |
| 8 | 9 | Oklahoma City | 43-11 | 377 |
| 9 | 7 | Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 39-14 | 362 |
| 10 | 10 | Middle Georgia State | 37-12 | 354 |
| 11 | 11 | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 42-10 | 349 |
| 12 | 12 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 39-9 | 328 |
| 13 | 17 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 42-11 | 282 |
| 14 | 14 | Texas Wesleyan | 41-12 | 273 |
| 15 | NR | William Jessup (Calif.) | 34-10 | 247 |
| 16 | 23 | Bryan (Tenn.) | 35-13 | 244 |
| 17 | 16 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 32-12 | 233 |
| 18 | 22 | Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) | 43-11 | 218 |
| 19 | 19 | Webber International (Fla.) | 33-18 | 193 |
| 20 | 15 | Lyon (Ark.) | 37-18 | 191 |
| 21 | 25 | Bellevue (Neb.) | 37-14 | 187 |
| 22 | 13 | Westmont (Calif.) | 33-12 | 182 |
| 23 | 21 | Indiana Tech | 33-14 | 170 |
| 24 | 24 | Indiana Southeast (Ind.) | 34-16 | 153 |
| 25 | NR | Arizona Christian | 38-17 | 73 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Truett McConnell (Ga.), The Master’s (Calif.)
Others Receiving Votes: Keiser (Fla.) 70, Truett McConnell (Ga.) 48, William Penn (Iowa) 48, Rio Grande (Ohio) 43, The Master’s (Calif.) 41, Antelope Valley (Calif.) 32, Missouri Baptist 23, Southwestern Christian (Okla.) 12, Tabor (Kan.) 11, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 5, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 3, McPherson (Kan.) 3, Mobile (Ala.) 3.
