Texas Wesleyan Baseball (41-12) remained ranked in their highest position of 2019 in the final regular season NAIA Coaches' Poll of the year, released by the NAIA Tuesday. The Rams hold at No. 14, a few spots down from No. 7 University of Science and Arts-Oklahoma and No. 8 Oklahoma City, who enter this weekend's Sooner Athletic Conference tournament as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively.

The Rams will play on the Oklahoma City side of the bracket - the better draw - facing No. 6 Mid-America Christian Friday at 2:30 p.m., which finished the season sub-.500 at 18-24, and which was shutout 10-0 by Texas Wesleyan at Sycamore Park April 22. The Rams won all three games of the series in 2019 and beat OCU in two out of three.

If TXWES wins, they'll advance and worry about their next opponent - likely No. 2 Oklahoma City - Saturday. If the team loses, they'll play an elimination game Friday night immediately following their game against the Evangels.

The finale will be Monday May 6. Texas Wesleyan didn't play MACU or Oklahoma City (who plays No. 7 Panhandle State in their first-round battle) last season, but faced the Stars in the SAC Championship Game in 2017, a wild 15-14 loss that still resulted in an at-large NAIA Tournament berth. 33 hits, nine errors and four home runs in a three-and-a-half hour, nine-inning game littered the box score from that contest.

Back to the recently released poll, Southwestern Christian couldn't cobble together enough national votes - only receiving 12 - to reach the Top 25 for the first time this season. The Eagles, who finished fourth in the SAC and will face No. 5 Wayland Baptist on the USAO side of the bracket, was 10-14 in conference in 2017, 14-12 in 2018 and 17-10 in the SAC this season. Southeastern (Fla.) remained No. 1 in the Coaches' Poll where they've been slotted since the preseason poll. The Fire finished the year 47-8.

The Rams finished the regular season fourth in the nation in strikeouts with 449, shattering the previous single-season record by 28. Senior Parker Robinson is third in the nation in runs allowed (12) and sixth in total earned runs allowed (10). Brayden Bahnsen has six triples (7th in the NAIA). As a team, opponents hit just .233 off of the Rams' pitching staff, 12th in the country.

TXWES is gunning for their first SAC Championship over the weekend. USAO won 2016 and 2018's crown while the Stars, as mentioned, wiggled their way to the 2017 title.

2019 LEADERS
Batting Average - Michael Davila, .339
Runs Batted In - Michael Davila, 46
Stolen Bases - Brayden Bahnsen, 11
Earned Run Average - Parker Robinson, 1.64
Strikeouts - Parker Robinson, 70
 

2019 NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll – Final (April 30)

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL [1st Place Votes]	RECORD	FINAL POINTS
1	1	Southeastern (Fla.) [13]	47-8	494
2	2	Tennessee Wesleyan [4]	44-8	485
3	4	Faulkner (Ala.)	42-10	461
4	3	Georgia Gwinnett	40-11	443
5	5	Cumberlands (Ky.)	43-6	429
6	6	St. Thomas (Fla.)	42-11	421
7	8	Science & Arts (Okla.) [1]	40-10	414
8	9	Oklahoma City	43-11	377
9	7	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	39-14	362
10	10	Middle Georgia State	37-12	354
11	11	LSU Shreveport (La.)	42-10	349
12	12	Oklahoma Wesleyan	39-9	328
13	17	Georgetown (Ky.)	42-11	282
14	14	Texas Wesleyan	41-12	273
15	NR	William Jessup (Calif.)	34-10	247
16	23	Bryan (Tenn.)	35-13	244
17	16	Central Methodist (Mo.)	32-12	233
18	22	Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.)	43-11	218
19	19	Webber International (Fla.)	33-18	193
20	15	Lyon (Ark.)	37-18	191
21	25	Bellevue (Neb.)	37-14	187
22	13	Westmont (Calif.)	33-12	182
23	21	Indiana Tech	33-14	170
24	24	Indiana Southeast (Ind.)	34-16	153
25	NR	Arizona Christian	38-17	73