STANDISH, ME - The NCAA DIII Baseball national and regional polls have been released and Saint Joseph's College remains highly-ranked both nationally and in the New England region.
Saint Joseph's, 36-5 overall and 14-2 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play this spring, is ranked second in the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) poll for the fifth consecutive week and sits in the #2 spot in the most recent NCAA Regional Rankings as well.
The 2012 GNAC Champion Monks garnered 20 points in the latest NEIBA poll and sit behind Wheaton College (34-8, 16-2 NEWMAC), the freshly-anointed NEWMAC champs, which received 24 points in the regional ranking. Rounding out the top eight New England programs are Trinity College (29-9, 10-2 NESCAC), Keene State College (29-11, 10-4 LEC), University of Southern Maine (23-16, 11-3 LEC), Amherst College (23-8, 10-2 NESCAC), Western New England University (33-11, 15-1 TCCC) and Eastern Connecticut State University (28-11, 8-6 LEC). Bridgewater State University (30-13, 12-2 MASCAC) and Rhode Island College (25-15, 9-5 LEC) also received votes in this week's poll.
St. Joe's has moved up to the #11 slot in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA national poll, the Monks' highest ranking of the 2012 campaign. Among New England programs earning votes, only Wheaton - ranked eighth - sits in front of the Monks.
Saint Joseph's, with 135 points, is ranked 13th in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball national poll for the second-consecutive week. Wheaton is ranked seventh with 183 points.
As the 2012 GNAC Champions, Saint Joseph's is among a handful of New England Region teams to have punched a ticket to the NCAA DIII Baseball Championship Tournament. Bridgewater State (MASCAC), Castleton State (NEAC), Daniel Webster College (NECC), Western New England (TCCC) and Wheaton (NEWMAC) have all claimed conference crowns and NCAA tourney berths. The Little East Conference (LEC) and New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) have yet to complete conference tournament play.
The eight regionals will be held May 16-20 with each regional champion booking a ticket to Appleton, Wis., for the National Championship round that will be held May 25-29. Eastern Connecticut State will serve as the New England Region host next week.
D3baseball.com/NCBWA Weekly Poll #11
