April 19, 2011

Contact: Amanda Dahl, NAIA Manager of Sports Information & Media Services, adahl@naia.org

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lee (Tenn.) held its No. 1 ranking as the top-six teams maintained their spot in the fourth edition of the 2011 NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the NAIA announced Tuesday. The Flames captured 16 first-place votes to tally 617 points to spend their second-straight week on top. Second-ranked Embry-Riddle (Fla.) and third-ranked Oklahoma City picked up four and two first-place nods, respectively. California Baptist is ranked fourth, followed by No. 5 LSU Shreveport (La.).

Twelve conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups have at least one team represented in the preseason poll, while six boast multiple Top-25 teams. The Southern States Athletic Conference continues to lead the way with six listed squads in Lee, No. 9 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.), No. 13 Brewton-Parker (Ga.), No. 19 Faulkner (Ala.), No. 22 Southern Poly Tech (Ga.) and No. 25 Belhaven (Miss.).

The Sooner Athletic Conference landed four squads among the Top 25: Oklahoma City, No. 6 Oklahoma Baptist, No. 11 Lubbock Christian (Texas) and No. 20 Rogers State (Okla.). The Golden State Athletic Conference has a trio of ranked programs, while three other leagues have a pair of listed teams.

In addition to the top-six holding on to their ranking, four other programs, including No. 18 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), No. 21 Southeastern (Fla.), No. 22 Southern Poly Tech and No. 23 Tabor (Kan.), held steady. Eight teams shifted up in the poll, while seven dropped in rank. Eleventh-ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) made the biggest move with an eight-spot jump. The 36-9 Chaps have won their last eight games. Auburn Montgomery (36-15) made its first top-10 appearance thanks to a climb of six spots, checking in at No. 9. That ranking is the best since being listed fourth in the final poll of the 2007 season.

Both Brewton-Parker (31-11) and British Columbia (26-11) fell out of the top 10. The Barons fell from No. 8 to 13, while the Thunderbirds moved from seventh to 14th.

Lee (43-7) and Embry-Riddle (40-8) have each surpassed the 40-win mark with four regular-season games remaining on their respective schedules. The Flames, who own 13 top-10 national statistical rankings, are riding a 12-game winning streak dating back to April 1. Lee is slated to play No. 7 Cumberland (Tenn.) on Tuesday, followed by a three-game series at No. 22 Southern Poly Tech to close out the season before heading into the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament.

The second-ranked Eagles have won 11-straight contests since April 2, pushing across double-figure run totals in five of those games. During their current stretch, they have outscored opponents 62-33, including three shutouts, and have averaged 5.6 runs per game.

Eighteen of the ranked squads have won 30-or more games, while five are still looking to reach the 30-win mark. A dozen of the ranked teams have lost 10-or fewer contests.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups. The next poll will be announced on April 26.

Others receiving votes: Culver-Stockton College (Mo.) 105; Point Park University (Pa.) 100; York College (Neb.) 55; Campbellsville University (Ky.) 39; Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.) 34; Taylor University (Ind.) 30; Trevecca Nazarene University (Tenn.) 29; Tennessee Wesleyan College 16; University of Texas at Brownsville 15; Menlo College (Calif.) 12; SCAD Savannah (Ga.) 7; Concordia University (Calif.) 7; MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) 6; Shorter University (Ga.) 5; William Woods University (Mo.) 4; College of Idaho 3; Robert Morris University (Ill.) 3; Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) 1; Indiana University Southeast 1; Doane College (Neb.) 1; Oklahoma Christian University 1; Webber International University (Fla.) 1; California State University-San Marcos 1.