Virginia Wesleyan unanimous No. 1 in NFCA Division III Top 25 poll

April 04, 2019 / By mobanmarket

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the first time in school history, Virginia Wesleyan is the No. 1 team in the county, as the surging Marlins replace Texas-Tyler atop the NFCA Division III Top 25 poll standings.

Virginia Wesleyan (38-5), which ranked third last week, extended its win streak to 17 games after rallying from four runs down with six outs remaining to win 10-9 in nine innings in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship game against Eastern Mennonite.

Texas-Tyler (39-4), meanwhile, lost twice to new No. 8 East Texas Baptist (34-8) in the American Southwest Conference Tournament — including 2-0 in the title game — to fall two places to third, after spending all 10 previous weeks this season in the top spot.

Salisbury (34-4), which has been idle since winning the Capital Athletic Conference championship, maintains the No. 2 slot it moved into last week.

Berry (36-6) is all alone at fourth this week, while Texas Lutheran (41-3) is now tied at fifth with Luther (34-2), the lone team of the three to play this week, going 2-0.

East Texas Baptist had the biggest jump of the week — nine places — after dealing Texas-Tyler its first two losses since February to snap a 33-game win streak. Birmingham-Southern (36-8) in seventh, Emory (40-4) in ninth and Christopher Newport (34-7) at No. 10 remained the same this week.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (34-6) moved into the poll at No. 24 after previously receiving votes, while the University of Chicago (23-8) received votes for the first time this season.

Three-time reigning NCAA titlist Tufts, dropped back out this week, along with Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

The NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll is selected by Division III head coaches representing the eight NCAA regions. Records through Sunday’s games are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses.

NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll – May 4, 2016

Rank Team 2016 Record Points Previous 1 Virginia Wesleyan (8) 37-5 200 3 2 Salisbury 34-4 190 2 3 Texas-Tyler 39-4 184 1 4 Berry 36-6 174 T4 T5 Luther 34-2 164 6   Texas Lutheran 41-3 164 T4 7 Birmingham-Southern 36-8 148 7 8 East Texas Baptist 34-8 140 17 9 Emory 40-4 135 9 10 Christopher Newport 34-7 123 10 11 Messiah 34-3 119 13 12 St. Thomas (Minn.) 35-5 111 16 13 Alma 29-7 101 11 T14 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 31-8-1 90 8   Illinois Wesleyan 27-7 90 12 16 Ithaca 29-7 69 19 17 Rowan 32-8 64 14 18 Otterbein 28-4-2 53 20 19 Moravian 32-4 48 18 20 Manhattanville 34-2 45 21 21 Williams 29-8 39 23 22 Linfield 29-13 34 25 23 Washington (Mo.) 34-10 25 24 24 Worcester Polytechnic Institute 34-6 19 RV 25 St. Catherine 28-7 17 15

Others receiving votes: University of Chicago 14, Whitworth 10, Wheaton (Ill.) 8, St. John Fisher 4, Cortland 3, Gustavus Adolphus 3 and DePauw 3.

Dropped out: Tufts, Wis.-Oshkosh.