NAIA Communications
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).
2019 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Preseason (November 6)
| RANK | WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | 2019 RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Tennessee Wesleyan [17] | 56-10 | 498 |
| 2 | 2 | St. Thomas (Fla.) [1] | 49-15 | 478 |
| 3 | 3 | Science & Arts (Okla.) | 49-12 | 461 |
| 4 | 5 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 53-12 | 449 |
| 5 | 4 | Georgia Gwinnett | 48-13 | 432 |
| 6 | 8 | Faulkner (Ala.) | 49-12 | 420 |
| 7 | 6 | Bellevue (Neb.) | 48-16 | 394 |
| 8 | 9 | Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 47-17 | 389 |
| 9 | 7 | Indiana Tech | 42-16-1 | 364 |
| 10 | 13 | Oklahoma City | 46-14 | 349 |
| 11 | 10 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 46-10 | 347 |
| 12 | 15 | LSU Shreveport (La.) | 47-13 | 316 |
| 13 | 11 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 45-11 | 314 |
| 14 | 14 | William Jessup (Calif.) | 39-14 | 303 |
| 15 | 18 | Westmont (Calif.) | 37-16 | 253 |
| 16 | 16 | Webber International (Fla.) | 38-22 | 242 |
| 17 | 20 | Texas Wesleyan | 46-16 | 199 |
| 18 | 23 | Bryan (Tenn.) | 36-17 | 183 |
| 19 | 19 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 35-15-1 | 182 |
| 20 | 21 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 35-16 | 181 |
| 21 | 22 | Lyon (Ark.) | 40-22 | 179 |
| T22 | 12 | Middle Georgia State | 42-16 | 160 |
| T22 | 24 | Indiana Southeast (Ind.) | 37-20 | 160 |
| 24 | RV | Mobile (Ala.) | 37-22 | 141 |
| T25 | RV | Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) | 44-13 | 98 |
| T25 | RV | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 32-20 | 98 |
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.