Championship Triumph Lifts Tennessee Wesleyan to No. 1 in Postseason Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tennessee Wesleyan finishes the 2026 season atop the GoRout NAIA Baseball Top 25 Postseason Poll after capturing the Avista NAIA World Series National Championship title in Lewiston, Idaho. The Bulldogs made one of the largest jumps in the final poll, climbing from No. 16 to No. 1 following their title run and ending the season with a 49-15 record.
National runner-up Taylor (Ind.) closes the year at No. 2 after spending the previous poll at No. 1, while William Carey (Miss.), Southeastern (Fla.), and IU Southeast (Ind.) round out the top five, each making notable jumps from the previous poll to the postseason poll.
| Trend | Rank | Last | Institution | Record | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▲ | 1 | 16 | 
|
Tennessee Wesleyan [13] | 49-15 | 360 |
| ▼ | 2 | 1 | 
|
Taylor (Ind.) | 56-7 | 348 |
| ▲ | 3 | 19 | 
|
William Carey (Miss.) | 41-20 | 327 |
| ▲ | 4 | 14 | 
|
Southeastern (Fla.) | 45-18 | 318 |
| ▲ | 5 | 20 | 
|
IU Southeast (Ind.) | 44-16 | 295 |
| ▼ | 6 | 4 | 
|
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 45-9 | 292 |
| ▼ | 7 | 3 | 
|
Georgia Gwinnett | 49-8 | 280 |
| ▲ | 8 | 18 | 
|
Mid-America Christian (Okla.) | 43-15 | 279 |
| ▼ | 9 | 6 | 
|
Johnson (Tenn.) | 40-14 | 269 |
| ● | 10 | 10 | 
|
Doane (Neb.) | 47-11 | 245 |
| ▼ | T-11 | 2 | 
|
Bellevue (Neb.) | 50-6 | 217 |
| ▲ | T-11 | 12 | 
|
LSU Shreveport (La.) | 43-14 | 217 |
| ▼ | 13 | 9 | 
|
Kansas Wesleyan | 50-9 | 203 |
| ▼ | 14 | 5 | 
|
Cumberlands (Ky.) | 48-10 | 165 |
| ▼ | 15 | 8 | 
|
Webber International (Fla.) | 39-19 | 161 |
| ▼ | 16 | 7 | 
|
Missouri Baptist | 40-12 | 159 |
| ▼ | 17 | 11 | 
|
Milligan (Tenn.) | 41-15 | 138 |
| ▲ | 18 | T-24 | 
|
British Columbia | 40-17 | 135 |
| ▼ | 19 | 15 | 
|
Texas Wesleyan | 42-12 | 126 |
| ▲ | 20 | 21 | 
|
Hope International (Calif.) | 39-15 | 122 |
| ▼ | 21 | 17 | 
|
Abraham Baldwin (Ga.) | 40-17 | 106 |
| ▼ | 22 | 13 | 
|
Texas A&M - Victoria | 36-17 | 96 |
| ▲ | 23 | T-24 | 
|
Louisiana Christian | 37-15 | 86 |
| ▲ | 24 | NR | 
|
Indiana Tech | 43-17 | 77 |
| ▲ | 25 | NR | 
|
Loyola (La.) | 37-19 | 55 |
Receiving Votes: Concordia (Neb.) 52, Nelson (Texas) 46, Oklahoma Wesleyan 36, Madonna (Mich.) 30, Keiser (Fla.) 28, Huntington (Ind.) 24, Marian (Ind.) 11, Oakland City (Ind.) 11, Northwestern Ohio 10, Faulkner (Ala.) 7, St. Thomas (Fla.) 5, LSU Alexandria (La.) 2.
Dropped out of Top 25: Marian (Ind.), Huntington (Ind.)
Key: RV - Receiving Votes, ▲- Climbed, ▼- Dropped, ● - Steady
Poll Methodology
- The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
- A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
- The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system:
- 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
- The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
- Teams receiving only one point are not listed as “receiving votes.”
- For the Preseason Poll, there is no "previous ranking" column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.
