C-N stays 7th in final region rankings before Selection Sunday
The third edition of the NCAA's baseball region rankings has #18 Carson-Newman (37-17) still ranked seventh, as announced by the organization on Wednesday afternoon.
INDIANAPOLIS- The third edition of the NCAA's baseball region rankings has #18 Carson-Newman (37-17) still ranked seventh, as announced by the organization on Wednesday afternoon.
Carson-Newman is one of just three South Atlantic Conference schools in the region rankings. Catawba is the top team in the region with a 40-12 record, while Lenoir-Rhyne's 43 wins are good for the second spot.
Conference Carolinas makes up the next three rated teams in the rankings. Young Harris is the top-rated team in third. Belmont Abbey has the automatic bid from the league and is in fourth, with North Greenville at number five. Two CC teams are currently on the outside looking in. Francis Marion and UNC Pembroke are nine and ten.
The Peach Belt has two schools represented, North Georgia at six and Lander at eight. The Bearcats are playing for the PBC Baseball Championship starting tomorrow and ending Friday.
Carson-Newman has a RPI of .560, seventh best in the region. Its strength of schedule sits 15th in the region at .529 but is well-ahead of Lander and Francis Marion's .498 rating. Other ratings that bode well for C-N are KPI and DII Performance Indicator. C-N is eighth with a .207 KPI and its performance indicator is tenth.
Among regionally ranked teams in the Southeast, C-N has played 8 games and has posted a 3-5 record. The Eagles did play and win a series against three-seeded Florida Southern in the South region. Those two wins would put Carson-Newman at 5-6 overall regionally ranked teams.
Of the teams regionally ranked in the Southeast, only Catawba (1), Lenoir-Rhyne (2) and Lander (8) are still competing in conference tournaments.
The selection committee uses these rankings as a guideline to make up the NCAA Tournament field. The top eight teams in the region make the NCAA Tournament with three automatic bids going to the winners of the conference tournaments from the South Atlantic Conference, Conference Carolinas and the Peach Belt Conference. The other five spots will consist of at-large bids.
The top two seeds will host the Southeast Region opening round tournament May 15th through May 18th. The team that wins the Southeast Regional tournament qualifies for the DII College World Series in Cary, North Carolina May 30th to June 7th.
The NCAA's selection show for DII Baseball is on Sunday, May 11th at 10:30 p.m. eastern time.