KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After earning its second NAIA Baseball National Title in 2019, Tennessee Wesleyan took the top spot in the preseason edition of the poll, released Wednesday. The Bulldogs dropped their only game to the Science & Arts (Okla.) Drovers in the 2019 Spring Classic, but earned a 6-2 victory over St. Thomas (Fla.) in the title game on the final day of May.

St. Thomas grabbed one first place vote and was No. 2 in the poll, followed by Science & Arts, Southeastern (Fla.) and Georgia Gwinnett to round-out the top five.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999)

• Tennessee Wesleyan claimed 17 of the 18 first-place votes.
• The Bulldogs led in 12 batting categories at the 2019 Avista NAIA World Series and earned the most wins in the nation a season ago with 56.
• After earning a hard-fought win in the first round of the World Series in 2019 over conference rival Southeastern, St. Thomas finished as the runner-up, only dropping games against Tennessee Wesleyan.
• The Bobcats hit .302 as a team last season with 49 wins to their credit.
• Southeastern and Georgia Gwinnett switched spots from their rankings in the postseason edition on June 5.
• Oklahoma City jumped three spots from No. 13 to No. 10.
• Bryan (Tenn.) made the most positive jump from the postseason poll, up five spots to No. 18.
• No. 24 Mobile (Ala.) and a tie at No. 25 with Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) and Campbellsville (Ky.) represent the three newcomers.
• 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 (4) 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 – Preseason (November 6)

Dropped from the Top 25: Georgetown (Ky.), Hope International (Calif.)

Others Receiving Votes: Arizona Christian 91, Georgetown (Ky.) 51, Keiser (Fla.) 42, Rio Grande (Ohio) 37, Madonna (Mich.) 36, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 28, Tabor (Kan.) 22, Antelope Valley (Calif.) 7, Southwestern Christian (Okla.) 7, Hope International (Calif.) 4, Concordia (Neb.) 3, Reinhardt (Ga.) 3.