The Talladega baseball team received votes in the NAIA Collegiate Baseball Top 25 Coaches Poll it was announced by the national office March 5th. The Tornados team was among 13 teams receiving votes in the poll for teams ranked outside the top-25 for votes received. This season with a (9-10) record, all of there non conference wins have come against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25 and one in the NCAA Division II.
The ranking marks for the first time since the 2014 season Talladega has received votes in the NAIA Coaches poll when current head coach Marcos Dominguez was a player on that team and TC enjoyed a historic 2014 season, making the NAIA National Tournament as they competed for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics World Series.
The 2019 campaign includes a strong conference schedule and victories over ranked opponents. Talladega has to battle through a torrid brutal non conference schedule and will again face another challenge in 2019, with 18 of the team’s 29 remaining games coming against teams that are ranked, or receiving votes in either the NAIA Top 25 poll and/or our HBCU Baseball Top 10poll.
Remaining games against teams ranked or receiving votes include Point University, No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan, No. 3 Faulkner, No. 4 Georgia Gwinnett, No. 18 University of Mobile, Fisher College and Florida Memorial (HBCU Baseball).
2019 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Poll 1 (March 5)
RANK WEEK SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] RECORD FINAL POINTS
1 1 Southeastern (Fla.) [14] 15-2 465
2 12 Tennessee Wesleyan [3] 15-2 448
3 4 Faulkner (Ala.) 15-4 428
4 3 Georgia Gwinnett 14-4 415
5 25 Westmont (Calif.) 15-2 396
6 2 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 13-4 383
7 8 Oklahoma City 17-2 380
8 17 Middle Georgia State 14-3 376
9 11 Science & Arts (Okla.) 18-1 339
10 6 St. Thomas (Fla.) 14-5 334
11 19 Cumberlands (Ky.) 15-2 326
12 25 LSU Shreveport (La.) 19-4 299
13 9 Oklahoma Wesleyan 12-3 283
14 15 Bryan (Tenn.) 14-4 259
15 NR Vanguard (Calif.) 15-2 232
16 21 Central Methodist (Mo.) 12-3 214
17 24 Keiser (Fla.) 14-6 200
18 NR Mobile (Ala.) 11-4 193
19 22 Indiana Tech 8-4 192
20 NR Lyon (Ark.) 16-4 187
21 NR Texas Wesleyan 19-3 169
22 NR Taylor (Ind.) 16-4 154
23 NR Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) 13-5 128
24 13 William Jessup (Calif.) 9-4 108
25 NR Georgetown (Ky.) 14-6 105
Dropped from the Top 25: Antelope Valley (Calif.), University of Northwestern Ohio, Point Park (Pa.), Reinhardt (Ga.), Bellevue (Neb.), Webber International (Fla.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Campbellsville, (Ky.).
Others Receiving Votes: Rio Grande (Ohio) 104, Tabor (Kan.) 86, Point (Ga.) 79, Warner (Fla.) 36, Webber International (Fla.) 31, LSU Alexandria (La.) 24, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 21, Indiana Southeast (Ind.) 11, British Columbia 11, Missouri Baptist 10, Concordia (Mich.) 9, Talladega (Ala.) 3, Hope International (Calif.) 3.