FORT WORTH, TX: The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released today the final edition of its Baseball
Coaches Top-25 Poll and announced in a live selection show, the 45 teams that have qualified for the
NAIA National Championship Opening Round. Texas Wesleyan moved up one spot to No. 21 in the poll and received an at-large bid to the National Championship.
The NAIA National Championship Opening Round features nine 5-team double-elimination tournaments which will play out May 17-20. The winner of each tournament along with host (No. 4 Lewis-Clark State) will advance to the 60th Annual Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, ID, May 27 – June 3.
The 45-team field includes 31 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large teams. For the second year, at-large teams were determined by the NAIA Baseball National Selection Committee (NSC) consisting of one representative from each geographic area, a representative from the National Administrative Council (NAC) Rules and Ratings Committee, the president of the NAIA-Baseball Coaches Association and three at-large members.
The Rams will play in the Faulkner Bracket (Montgomery, AL) where they will meet No. 3 Faulkner, No. 16 Vanguard, Central Methodist, and Texas A&M-Texarkana. The third seeded Rams will open with second-seeded seeded Vanguard at 2:30 pm on Tuesday, May 17.
The Rams are making their 7th appearance in the Opening Round (or equivalent tournament) in the last 11 seasons. In four of their previous six appearances (2007, 2009, 2010, and 2013) they reached the final, falling just shy of the World Series.
Texas Wesleyan is one of the hottest teams in the country at 29-5 over their last 34 games. The team put together a 17-game winning streak that led to a Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) Regular Season Championship at 19-5 in conference play.
Three SAC teams appeared in the Coaches' Poll and all-three have advanced to the Opening Round. SAC Tournament Champion and 11th ranked University of Science & Arts will appear in the Hutchinson Bracket (Hutchinson, KS) along with No. 23 Wayland Baptist University.
Georgia Gwinnett topped the poll as a unanimous No. 1. The Grizzlies have won 13 in a row to stand at 55-4 overall and will host a bracket in Lawrenceville, GA.
The tournament includes 23 teams who also qualified last season including six Opening Round Champions. Seven programs punched their first ever ticket to the event. Six qualifiers have previously won a World Series title led by defending champion Lewis-Clark State's 17.
Ramblings
- Texas Wesleyan's last Opening Round appearance (2013) also came in the Faulkner bracket. They were defeated in the final of that tournament by then No. 1 ranked Faulkner.
- The Rams are 1-2 all-time vs. Faulkner. All three meetings came in the 2013 Opening Round. The Rams have never faced Vanguard, Central Methodist, or Texas A&M-Texarkana on the diamond.
- Faulkner (46-12, Southern States Athletic Conference) and Central Methodist (43-15, Heart of America Athletic Conference) received automatic bids as their conference tournament champion. Texas A&M-Texarkana (31-18) received an automatic bid as the third-place finisher in the Unaffiliated Group (A.I.I/GCAC) Tournament, and Vanguard (37-15-1) received an at-large bid out of the Golden State Athletic Conference.
- Texas Wesleyan is 81-82 all-time in postseason play
- The Rams' 32 triples currently rank 4th in the NAIA, just two behind Georgia Gwinnett's 34.
- At 39-17 overall, the Rams are one win shy of the program's 9th 40+ win season.
