April 11, 2011

Patriots march to #12 in new baseball poll

After a 3-1 week that included a road conference series win, Francis Marion University moved up three positions to a season-best No.12 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s NCAA Division II Top 30 poll, released on Monday (April 11).

Francis Marion has won 13 of its last 15 games to improve to 29-10 overall and 13-5 in the Peach Belt Conference.  The Patriots currently own the best record in the PBC and sit atop the East Division standings.

FMU will return to action on Wednesday night (April 13) when the Patriots travel to Newberry College (20-22) for a 6 p.m. contest.  Francis Marion will then play host to seventh-ranked UNC Pembroke (32-7, 13-7) for a key Peach Belt Conference series this weekend.  The two squads will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. and a single game on Sunday, also at 1 p.m. on Cormell Field.

Admission to FMU home games is $6 for adults and $4 for students with FMU students being admitted free with a valid identification card.

This week’s national ranking means the Patriots have appeared in 103 of the past 111 national polls dating back to the 2005 season. Francis Marion was ranked 15th in the 2011 pre-season poll, dropped out of the first two rankings, but returned to the poll and has been 24th, 17th, 13th, 24th, 16th, 16th, and 15th (last week).

The University of West Florida (34-4) retained the No. 1 position in this week’s poll, while five Peach Belt squads also appear in the new rankings.

 
 
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA Division II Top 30 Baseball poll
For Immediate Release: Monday (April 11, 2011)

 

No.         Team                                     Record   Points Previous
1.            West Florida                         34-4       480         1
2.            Central Missouri                   27-5       456         2
3.            Mount Olive                         30-6        452        3
4.            Grand Valley St.                   23-3       418         4
                Emporia St.                         27-4       418         5
6.            Southern Conn. St.              27-1       406         6
7.            N.C. Pembroke                     32-7       396         12
8.            Tampa                                 27-8       360         8
9.            St. Mary's (Tex.)                  30-8       338         10
10.          Cal. St. Chico                       22-7       320         7
11.          Barry                                  27-10      316         14
12.          Francis Marion                 29-10    310        15
13.          Franklin Pierce                     26-6       298         13
14.          Florida Southern                 24-8        282         16
15.          Catawba                             32-8        252         21
16.          Harding                              31-7        232         18
17.          U.C. San Diego                   24-12      218         21
18.          Tarleton St.                        28-7        214         25
19.          Columbus St.                     25-14      182         29
20.          Armstrong Atlantic St.        26-10      164         11
                Millersville                         23-7        164         26
22.          Winona St.                         19-6        142         RV
23.          Southern Indiana               21-9        110         RV
24.          Georgia College                   24-14     104          9
25.          Wilmington                        26-3        80           RV
26.          Mansfield                           15-6        72           RV
27.          Cal. St. Los Angeles           22-14      70           20
28.          Sonoma St.                       22-10      44           16
29.          East Stroudsburg              20-7        30           RV
30.          St. Cloud St.                      18-6        20           24
                Limestone                        27-14      20           RV

 

Also Receiving Votes: Cal Poly Pomona (6), Western Oregon (4), S.E. Oklahoma St. (2), Erskine (1), Nebraska-Omaha (1), Incarnate Word (1), S.W. Oklahoma St. (1), Nova S.E. (1), North Alabama (1), S. Arkansas (1), Adelphi (1), Minnesota St.-Mankato (1), Mesa St. (1), Augustana (1), Nebraska-Kearney (1), Metro St. (1), Indianapolis (1), Wayne St., MI (1), Slippery Rock (1), West Virginia St. (1).