Baseball No. 1 in South
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Shenandoah University baseball team will enter Selection Sunday as the No. 1 team in the South Evaluation Region following rankings announced Thursday 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 third and final 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 Salisbury (Md.), Mary Washington, York (Pa.), Millsaps (Miss.) and Methodist in the poll.
Salisbury is the lone newcomer to the poll - the Sea Gulls had been unranked the last two weeks but a win on Saturday against national No. 1 Johns Hopkins helped the team move into the No. 2 spot. Mary Washington drops from second to third, York (Pa.) and Methodist remain fourth and sixth, respectively, while Millsaps drops one spot for the second consecutive week.
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. Salisbury, York (Pa.), Millsaps and Methodist 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 NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Monday, May 17.
