Pre- Total Rank season School (Region) Record Points ---- ---- --------------- ------ ------ 1 1 Cumberland U. (Tenn.) (XI) 26-6-0 607 2 3 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (I) 15-4-0 566 3 4 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (XIV) 30-2-0 550 4 5 Bellevue (Neb.) (IV) 21-6-0 539 5 11 Houston Baptist (Texas) (VI) 19-5-0 532 6 2 Oklahoma City (VI) 30-5-0 489 7 NR Lee (Tenn.) (XIII) 26-7-0 380 8 12 Tennessee Wesleyan (XII) 13-5-0 368 9 NR Lyon (Ark.) (XI) 29-6-0 359 10 NR Benedictine (Kan.) (V) 18-6-0 329 11 NR Bethany (Kan.) (IV) 25-3-0 315 12 14 Jamestown (N.D.) (III) 10-2-1 300 13 13 William Penn (Iowa) (VII) 15-5-0 285 14 NR LSU-Shreveport (XIII) 23-5-0 277 15 NR Lubbock Christian (Texas) (VI) 25-6-0 271 16 19 Biola (Calif.) (II) 14-5-1 247 17 NR Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) (XI) 29-6-0 219 18 NR Madonna (Mich.) (VIII) 13-1-0 218 19 NR Flagler (Fla.) (XIV) 20-13-0 176 20 6 Point Loma Nazarene (CA) (II) 19-5-0 152 21 17 Spalding (Ky.) (XII) 22-11-0 143 22 NR Rio Grande (Ohio) 15-5-0 128 23 NR Southern Polytechnic (Ga.)(XII) 28-8-0 117 24 NR McKendree (Ill.) (V) 17-7-0 116 25 22 Oklahoma Baptist (VI) 24-7-0 104
First-place votes: Cumberland 15, Lewis-Clark State 2, Embry-Riddle 10
Defending champion Cumberland U. being ranked #1 despite six losses is surprising. If I had been voting in this, Embry-Riddle would have gotten 11 votes instead of 10. However, Cumberland U. did defeat Embry-Riddle 5-4 in Daytona Beach a couple of weeks ago, and got a couple of wins at #19 Flagler on the same trip. Cumberland U. has a game against D-1 Middle Tennessee State on April 3. They play #9 Lyon April 8-9.
Two of Lewis-Clark State's four losses were to D-1 teams, Washington State and U. of Portland. Another loss, to Oregon Tech, was the result of Oregon Tech pitcher John Jefferson having the game of his life. The Warriors play at Brigham Young on April 12, and Utah Valley State (a new D-I member) on April 13.
Embry-Riddle plays #19 Flagler April 8-9.
Houston Baptist moved ahead of Oklahoma City by winning two out of three against them, at Oklahoma City, in early March. The Huskies play at #14 LSU-Shreveport April 19.
The low ranking of Biola and Point Loma Nazarene is also surprising. Biola won two out of three between these two teams last weekend.
Finally, U. of British Columbia expressed their displeasure at being left out of the top 25 (they came in at a distant #26) by sweeping a mid-week series against Eastern Oregon, 19-7, 7-4, and 6-4.
-- Bob Broughton http://broughton.ca/ Vancouver, BC, Canada "Not all carcinogens are known to cause cancer in humans." - Todd Benson, mailto:tbenson37@cox.net , Oct. 24, 2004
