North Greenville Holds On To No. 1, Angelo State Closes In
PEMBROKE – A road series loss was not enough to knock defending national champion North Greenville out of the top spot in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25, but Angelo State closed the gap at the top by picking up five first-place votes in Wednesday’s Week 8 edition of the poll.
The Crusaders, who dropped the last two games of its road series with Mount Olive on Saturday, still managed to rake in 15 of the available 20 first-place votes this week, but saw their lead at the top significantly whittled down to just 15 points. Tampa fell one spot to No. 3 in the listing, while Missouri Southern State and Millersville rounded out the top 5.
Lenoir-Rhyne (No. 15), West Georgia (No. 17) and Point Loma (No. 24) returned to the national ranking after short hiatuses, while Minnesota State (No. 25) jumped back into the Top 25 for the first time since the preseason edition of the ranking.
Young Harris (No. 23) made an appearance in the NCBWA Top 25 for the first time in the 21-year history of the poll.
| 2023 NCBWA DIVISION II TOP 25 |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
North Greenville (15) |
31-4 |
494 |
1 |
| 2 |
Angelo State (5) |
30-4 |
479 |
3 |
| 3 |
Tampa |
24-6 |
462 |
2 |
| 4 |
Missouri Southern State |
27-8 |
431 |
4 |
| 5 |
Millersville |
25-4 |
389 |
6 |
| 6 |
Newberry |
29-5 |
381 |
8 |
| 7 |
Cal State San Bernardino |
23-8 |
376 |
5 |
| 8 |
St. Edward's (Texas) |
27-6 |
346 |
9 |
| 9 |
Quincy |
20-6 |
341 |
7 |
| 10 |
Southern Arkansas |
24-9 |
314 |
10 |
| 11 |
Rollins |
22-9 |
299 |
11 |
| 12 |
Wayne State (Mich.) |
19-3 |
244 |
17 |
| 13 |
Colorado Mesa |
23-8 |
227 |
16 |
| 14 |
East Stroudsburg |
22-4 |
221 |
15 |
| 15 |
Lenoir-Rhyne |
29-8 |
218 |
RV |
| 16 |
New Haven |
18-5 |
208 |
22 |
| 17 |
West Georgia |
25-7 |
184 |
RV |
| 18 |
Central Missouri |
24-9 |
174 |
24 |
| 19 |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
18-9 |
137 |
25 |
| 20 |
Illinois-Springfield |
22-8 |
125 |
21 |
| 21 |
Montevallo |
27-7 |
113 |
24 |
| 22 |
Franklin Pierce |
16-7 |
71 |
12 |
| 23 |
Young Harris |
25-10 |
58 |
NR |
| 24 |
Point Loma |
19-9 |
35 |
NR |
| 25 |
Minnesota State |
19-6 |
34 |
NR |
| Receiving Votes: Valdosta State (20-9) 28 points; Mount Olive (24-8) 27 points; UT Tyler (24-12) 22 points; Southern New Hampshire (19-8) 17 points; Arkansas Tech (23-12) 12 points; Seton Hill (18-7) 12 points; Grand Valley State (16-6) 6 points; MSU Denver (26-8) 6 points; Azusa Pacific (20-14) 5 points; Florida Southern (22-9) 4 points. |
| Dropped Out: Columbus State (13th); Arkansas Tech (18th); Azusa Pacific (19th); UNC Pembroke (20th); Valdosta State (23rd). |
| ATLANTIC REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
Millersville (10) |
25-4 |
109 |
1 |
| 2 |
East Stroudsburg (1) |
22-4 |
100 |
2 |
| 3 |
Seton Hill |
18-7 |
80 |
5 |
| 4 |
Charleston (W.Va.) |
22-6 |
78 |
4 |
| 5 |
West Chester |
18-8 |
72 |
3 |
| 6 |
Mercyhurst |
11-6 |
47 |
7 |
| 7 |
Shippensburg |
18-14 |
39 |
6 |
| 8 |
Shepherd |
18-11 |
31 |
9 |
| T9 |
Kutztown |
17-9 |
17 |
10 |
| T9 |
Slippery Rock |
11-9 |
17 |
8 |
| Receiving Votes: Concord (15-12) 7 points; Frostburg State (14-11) 6 points; West Virginia State (14-10) 2 points. |
| Dropped Out: None. |
|
| EAST REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
New Haven (6) |
18-5 |
78 |
2 |
| 2 |
Franklin Pierce (2) |
16-7 |
70 |
1 |
| 3 |
Southern New Hampshire |
19-8 |
63 |
4 |
| 4 |
Pace |
17-5 |
54 |
3 |
| 5 |
Goldey-Beacom |
19-10 |
44 |
T6 |
| 6 |
Molloy |
18-10 |
42 |
5 |
| 7 |
Southern Connecticut State |
17-7 |
31 |
T6 |
| 8 |
Queens (N.Y.) |
17-6 |
30 |
8 |
| 9 |
Post |
19-12 |
18 |
RV |
| 10 |
Wilmington (Del.) |
13-11 |
7 |
RV |
| Receiving Votes: Le Moyne (14-11) 2 points; Bentley (12-9) 1 point. |
| Dropped Out: Bentley (T9th); Thomas Jefferson (T9th). |
|
| CENTRAL REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
Missouri Southern State (12) |
27-8 |
145 |
1 |
| 2 |
Southern Arkansas (2) |
24-9 |
129 |
2 |
| 3 |
Central Missouri (1) |
24-9 |
120 |
4 |
| 4 |
Minnesota State |
19-6 |
93 |
5 |
| 5 |
Arkansas Tech |
23-12 |
91 |
3 |
| 6 |
Pittsburg State |
23-10 |
80 |
6 |
| 7 |
Ouachita Baptist |
21-10 |
55 |
7 |
| 8 |
Washburn |
21-13 |
28 |
9 |
| 9 |
Harding |
22-10 |
27 |
8 |
| 10 |
Augustana (S.D.) |
20-12 |
26 |
NR |
| Receiving Votes: St. Cloud State (14-10) 10 points; Minot State (16-8) 6 points; Minnesota Crookston (18-11) 5 points; Rogers State (21-12) 4 points; Central Oklahoma (22-11) 3 points; Henderson State (21-13) 3 points. |
| Dropped Out: St. Cloud State (10th). |
|
| MIDWEST REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
Quincy (5) |
20-6 |
59 |
1 |
| 2 |
Wayne State (Mich.) (1) |
19-3 |
55 |
2 |
| 3 |
Illinois-Springfield |
22-8 |
48 |
3 |
| 4 |
Grand Valley State |
16-6 |
38 |
5 |
| 5 |
Maryville |
18-8 |
38 |
4 |
| 6 |
Ashland |
17-7 |
29 |
6 |
| 7 |
Northwood |
18-8 |
25 |
8 |
| 8 |
William Jewell |
19-8 |
19 |
7 |
| 9 |
Drury |
20-12 |
13 |
9 |
| 10 |
Walsh |
13-11 |
6 |
NR |
| Receiving Votes: None. |
| Dropped Out: Findlay (10th). |
|
| SOUTH REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
Tampa (7) |
24-6 |
96 |
1 |
| 2 |
Rollins (2) |
22-9 |
89 |
2 |
| 3 |
West Georgia |
25-7 |
75 |
5 |
| 4 |
Montevallo (1) |
27-7 |
70 |
3 |
| 5 |
Valdosta State |
20-9 |
58 |
4 |
| 6 |
Florida Southern |
22-9 |
57 |
6 |
| 7 |
Florida Tech |
20-12 |
35 |
7 |
| 8 |
Albany State |
21-5 |
28 |
8 |
| 9 |
West Florida |
18-14 |
12 |
RV |
| 10 |
Alabama Huntsville |
19-15 |
11 |
RV |
| Receiving Votes: Barry (22-11) 9 points; Saint Leo (17-14) 6 points; Savannah State (18-8) 4 points. |
| Dropped Out: Barry (9th); Saint Leo (10th). |
|
| SOUTH CENTRAL REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
Angelo State (8) |
30-4 |
80 |
1 |
| 2 |
St. Edward's (Texas) |
27-6 |
69 |
2 |
| 3 |
Colorado Mesa |
23-8 |
67 |
3 |
| 4 |
UT Tyler |
24-12 |
53 |
4 |
| 5 |
MSU Denver |
26-8 |
50 |
5 |
| 6 |
West Texas A&M |
23-11 |
33 |
6 |
| 7 |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
22-16 |
31 |
7 |
| 8 |
Lubbock Christian |
18-15 |
21 |
8 |
| 9 |
Regis |
14-16 |
13 |
9 |
| 10 |
Colorado School of Mines |
13-15 |
10 |
NR |
| Receiving Votes: CSU Pueblo (12-19) 6 points; St. Mary's (16-18) 5 points; Texas A&M-International (16-22) 2 points. |
| Dropped Out: CSU Pueblo (10th). |
|
| SOUTHEAST REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
North Greenville (8) |
31-4 |
98 |
1 |
| 2 |
Newberry (2) |
29-5 |
88 |
2 |
| 3 |
Lenoir-Rhyne |
29-8 |
67 |
5 |
| 4 |
Young Harris |
25-10 |
65 |
7 |
| 5 |
Mount Olive |
24-8 |
55 |
8 |
| 6 |
UNC Pembroke |
26-9 |
53 |
4 |
| 7 |
Columbus State |
24-9 |
41 |
3 |
| 8 |
Wingate |
22-12 |
34 |
6 |
| 9 |
USC Aiken |
23-11 |
31 |
9 |
| 10 |
Belmont Abbey |
24-11 |
8 |
10 |
| Receiving Votes: Georgia Southwestern (18-12) 6 points; Catawba (22-14) 2 points; Erskine (19-14) 1 point; Tusculum (21-15) 1 point. |
| Dropped Out: None. |
|
| WEST REGION |
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
2023 Record |
Pts |
Prev |
| 1 |
Cal State San Bernardino (12) |
23-8 |
126 |
1 |
| 2 |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
18-9 |
113 |
3 |
| 3 |
Point Loma |
19-9 |
103 |
5 |
| 4 |
Azusa Pacific |
20-14 |
91 |
2 |
| 5 |
Cal Poly Pomona |
18-11 |
80 |
6 |
| 6 |
Chico State |
14-10 |
54 |
7 |
| T7 |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
15-13 |
42 |
8 |
| T7 |
Hawaii Hilo |
17-11 |
42 |
4 |
| 9 |
Holy Names |
19-12 |
21 |
NR |
| 10 |
Western Oregon |
15-9 |
19 |
RV |
| Receiving Votes: San Francisco State (16-11) 13 points; Stanislaus State (17-15) 7 points Fresno Pacific (15-15) 4 points. |
| Dropped Out: Stanislaus State (9th); Concordia University Irvine (10th). |
