KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tennessee Wesleyan left no doubt in who is the top team in the nation at the conclusion of the 2019 NAIA Baseball season. The Bulldogs earned their second red banner in team history and were further rewarded with the top spot to conclude the season.

St. Thomas (Fla.) who ended the season as the national championship runner-up, checked-in at No. 2 while Science & Arts (Okla.) and Georgia Gwinnett carried their final place at the 2019 NAIA World Series over to the postseason edition of the Top 25 as well.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999)

• Tennessee Wesleyan earned its second national championship in history. The first came in 2012 with a 10-6 win over former member Rogers State (Okla.).
• The Bulldogs led the 2019 NAIA World Series in batting average (0.332), slugging percentage (0.526), runs scored per game (8.20) and RBI per game (7.40) to name a few. The team from Athens, Tenn., led in 12 batting categories at the World Series.
• St. Thomas (Fla.) was the runner-up to the national title for the second time in five years. The Bobcats were in the final game in 2015 against Lewis-Clark State (Idaho).
• Indiana Tech and Bellevue (Neb.) both made significant jumps in the final edition as both earned a spot in the World Series with NAIA Opening Round victories. Bellevue jumped from No. 21 to No. 6 while Indiana Tech went from No. 23 to No. 7.
• Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and Hope International (Calif.) are the newcomers this week. The Warriors snagged a win in the World Series in their first game over Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) while the Royals find themselves in the Top 25 for the first time in 2019.

• 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 (3) 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 – Postseason (June 5)

Dropped from the Top 25: Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.), Arizona Christian 

Others Receiving Votes: Rio Grande (Ohio) 98, Antelope Valley (Calif.) 87, York (Neb.) 33, Madonna (Mich.) 30, Warner (Fla.) 30, Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) 28, Mobile (Ala.) 23, Southwestern Christian (Okla.) 11, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 10, William Penn (Iowa) 5, Arizona Christian 4, Columbia (Mo.) 4, Concordia (Neb.) 3, Campbellsville (Ky.) 3, Truett McConnell (Ga.) 3.