Florida A&M moves to the top in the “large school”division while Albany State continues to hold its lead in the “small school” division in Black College Nines’ sixth set of polls for the 2024 season.
Jockeying for the top spot in Black College Nines’ HBCU baseball large school poll continues this week with Florida A&M leapfrogging last week’s chart-topper, Bethune-Cookman and once previous number one, North Carolina A&T, as presented by Guardian Baseball and announced on May 1, 2024. This makes for a key conference matchup between the two Florida-based schools this upcoming weekend in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The remaining seven teams remain the same as last week with Alabama State and Jackson State each moving up one spot to numbers four and five, respectively. Texas Southern drops to number six in the poll, followed by Grambling State, Prairie View A&M and Southern University. Rounding out the top ten is Delaware State which falls from last week’s number eight spot.
In Black College Nines’ small school top ten poll, Albany State continues to hold its lead, which it has held since the second week’s poll of March 20th. Talladega College and West Virginia State remain numbers two and three, with Bluefield State jumping from sixth to fourth this week. Savannah State and Edward Waters each drop one spot with Florida Memorial, Wiley University, Jarvis Christian (first time this season in the top ten), and Miles College rounding the small school poll.
The small school Top 10 poll will have national implications throughout the 2024 regular season which will lead to HBCU baseball programs competing for a national title in the fourth annual Black College World Series scheduled for May 8-11, 2024, at Riverwalk Stadium (home of the Tampa Bay Rays Double-A affiliate Montgomery Biscuits) in Montgomery, Alabama.
Black College Nines HBCU Baseball Ranking Committee determines the Top 10 rankings for both large schools and small schools.
Records indicated are through April 28, 2024.
The two divisional polls are as follows…
Large School Poll
| Rank | School | Current Record | Winning Pct. | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama State University | 22-20 | 0.524 | 4 | |
| Bethune Cookman University | 25-19 | 0.568 | 2 | |
| Delaware State University | 14-21 | 0.400 | 10 | |
| Florida A&M University | 22-21 | 0.512 | 1 | |
| Grambling State University | 17-20 | 0.459 | 7 | |
| Jackson State University | 27-16 | 0.628 | 5 | |
| North Carolina A&T University | 21-22 | 0.488 | 3 | |
| Prairie View A&M | 23-23 | 0.500 | 8 | |
| Southern University | 18-22 | 0.450 | 9 | |
| Texas Southern University | 19-21 | 0.475 | 6 |
Receiving Multiple Vote: Alabama A&M
Small School Poll
| Rank | School | Current Record | Winning Pct. | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany State University | 34-10 | 0.773 | 1 | |
| Bluefield State University | 30-14 | 0.682 | 4 | |
| Edward Waters University | 27-18 | 0.600 | 6 | |
| Florida Memorial University | 20-24 | 0.455 | 7 | |
| Jarvis Christian University | 18-21 | 0.462 | 9 | |
| Miles College | 22-22 | 0.500 | 10 | |
| Savannah State | 28-13 | 0.683 | 5 | |
| Talladega College | 36-15 | 0.706 | 2 | |
| West Virginia State University | 25-15 | 0.625 | 3 | |
| Wiley University | 28-19 | 0.596 | 8 |
Receiving Multiple Votes: Dillard University, Huston-Tillotson, Lane College, Morehouse College, Voorhees College, Xavier University of Louisiana
2024 Poll Dates (with links to poll results):
Pre-Season
Week 1 (March 6, 2024)
Week 2 (March 20, 2024)
Week 3 (April 3, 2024)
Week 4 (April 17, 2024)
Week 5 (April 24, 2024)
Week 6 (May 1, 2024)
Week 7 (May 16, 2024)
Week 8 (May 23, 2024)
Final Poll (May 30, 2024)
The voting committee is made up of an informed and impartial group of individuals who follow college baseball on all levels, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) baseball. Included in the group are college athletic administrators and educators, college baseball writers and other sports journalists and broadcasters, former HBCU and other college ballplayers and above all else… college baseball enthusiasts who have an interest in promoting HBCU baseball.
As the college baseball season concludes, champions will be named in two divisions… the “large school” division will be composed of the 17 HBCU schools representing NCAA Division I and a “small school” division made up of the 36 HBCU schools with NCAA Division II, NAIA and NCCAA status.
GREAT WORK COVERING ALL DIVISON ONE AND DIVION II BASEBALL TEAMS
AND GREAT WEB SITE.
Going by RPI rank, NC A&T sits at 161 (compared FAMU’s 193) thanks to their tough conference opponents. Worth mentioning, DelState is surviving their NEC affiliation best with an RPI rank of 277.