The NAIA last week announced the top 25 preseason rankings for the 2016 season, as St. Thomas University’s baseball team finds itself as second best, looking up at the team that wrestled the College World Series Championship away from the Bobcats.
Defending champion Lewis-Clark College is ranked No. 1 in the nation, winning 17 first-place votes and 467 total points to win the top spot in the NAIA rankings.
St. Thomas University garnered 448 total points for the No. 2 spot, followed by Faulkner, Tabor and Oklahoma City rounding out the top five teams.
It’s the highest ranking the Bobcats achieved in school history. The first regular-season rankings will be released on March 15.
Ranked No. 20 in the nation, the Bobcats appeared in their first-ever World Series final last season and were just three innings away from winning the AVISTA-NAIA College World Series and capping off a Cinderella season.
But Lewis-Clark College rallied to take the national championship with a 10-7 victory.