Baseball Tops in South
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Shenandoah University baseball team is the No. 1 squad in the South Region in rankings announced Thursday afternoon by the NCAA.
These rankings, done by each regional advisory committee and then verified by the NCAA Division III National Baseball Committee, are used by the national committee to assist in the selection of the 2010 championship field.
Thursday's rankings are the first of three that the NCAA will release before officially announcing the NCAA Tournament field on May 17.
With a 26-7 regional record, Shenandoah leads a group of six teams ranked in the South Evaluation Region. The NCAA ranks the top 15 percent of schools in each of the eight regions throughout the nation.
The Hornets are followed by Mary Washington, Millsaps (Miss.), Methodist, LaGrange (Ga.) and York (Pa.) in the poll.
A regional ranking does not guarantee a spot in the field, ensure which regional a team would be assigned to or what seed a team would be in the assigned regional.
SU and Mary Washington, by virtue of USA South and CAC titles, respectively, are the only ranked teams in the South Region to have a guaranteed spots in the field. LaGrange will be attempting to qualify via Pool B while Methodist, Millsaps and York (Pa.) will all try to qualify for the field via Pool C (at-large bids).
Rankings are determined by primary criteria that includes in-region winning percentage and a weighted strength of schedule.
The next ranking will be released May 6.
