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.
*Ranking from 2018 Poll No. 1 (March 6, 2018)
