Taylor Baseball Closes Inside Top-10 in Postseason Coaches’ Poll

by | Jun 6, 2025 | Baseball, College Sports, Headlines, NAIA

TU Baseball Closes Inside Top-10 in Postseason Coaches’ Poll

 KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Taylor baseball team (47-11) earned the No. 10 ranking in the 2025 NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Postseason Poll, released Wednesday.

TU closed its most prolific season ever, in which it broke the program’s single-season wins and winning percentage records, sitting tied-sixth in the NAIA with 47 victories and tied-fourth for fewest losses.

Having broken nearly every major offensive single-season team record, including walks, hits, runs, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, the Trojans ended the season drawing the fourth most walks in the NAIA (369). That figure helped TU rank fifth in on-base percentage (.463) and ninth in RBIs (508).

Taylor’s 85 home runs – seven shy of the team record set in 2023 – marked the nation’s 16th highest output, and the lineup ranked inside the top 20 in both doubles and triples.

TU’s pitching staff put together the second best WHIP in the NAIA at 1.17, and it struck out opposing batters at the fourth highest clip of 10.51 strikeouts per nine innings. Those numbers helped produce a 3.78 ERA that also ranked fourth in the nation.

Though the Trojans have graduated three fixtures from the lineup in Mason David, Kaleb Kolpien and Luke Picchiotti, as well as key relivers in Conner Miller and Dalton Swinehart, Taylor can return four Crossroads League award winners (Brayden Manning, Sam Gladd, Luke Sutter and Ben Kennedy) to the lineup and four previous All-CL arms to its pitching staff (Gabel Pentecost, Brody Fine, Jake Boyer and Nick Crabtree) for the 2026 season.

No. 10 Taylor has won at least 40 games in four consecutive seasons, each of which have ended in NAIA national tournament appearances

2025 NAIA Baseball GoRout Coaches’ Top 25 Postseason Poll (June 4)

Southeastern (Fla.), 2025’s runner up in Lewiston, moved from No. 6 to No. 2, while Georgia Gwinnett, Hope International (Calif.) and Tennessee Wesleyan rounded out the top five.

British Columbia and Grand View (Iowa) – both World Series qualifiers – made significant jumps, as UBC went from No. 24 to No. 11, and Grand View moved in to the top 25 at No. 13.

RANK LAST TIME INSTITUTION [FIRST PLACE VOTES] RECORD POINTS
1 1 LSU Shreveport (La.) 59-0 420
2 6 Southeastern (Fla.) 47-15 406
3 2 Georgia Gwinnett 56-7 385
4 4 Hope International (Calif.) 48-10 384
5 3 Tennessee Wesleyan 48-14 365
6 8 Cumberlands (Ky.) 50-12 348
7 13 Loyola (La.) 42-18 329
8 7 Webber International (Fla.) 44-15 327
9 5 Reinhardt (Ga.) 43-13 301
10 9 Taylor (Ind.) 47-11 279
11 24 British Columbia 39-19 259
12 16 Missouri Baptist 42-11 247
13 RV Grand View (Iowa) 38-14 241
14 10 William Carey (Miss.) 38-14 237
15 11 Oklahoma Wesleyan 47-11 229
16 12 Concordia (Neb.) 41-13 210
17 15 Arizona Christian 40-16-1 158
18 20 Columbia (Mo.) 43-11 157
19 19 Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 41-17 153
20 14 Houston-Victoria (Texas) 38-17 135
21 22 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 42-19 132
T-22 18 Indiana Southeast 32-18 131
T-22 17 Bellevue (Neb.) 40-15 131
24 RV Keiser (Fla.) 37-17 122
25 21 Johnson (Tenn.) 36-18 73

Dropped out of Top 25: Central Methodist (Mo.), Oakland City (Ind.).

Receiving Votes: Central Methodist (Mo.) 69, Kansas Wesleyan 54, Cumberland (Tenn.) 43, Abraham Baldwin (Ga.) 38, Oakland City (Ind.) 35, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 31, Ave Maria (Fla.) 15, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 11, Indiana Wesleyan 5.

Poll Methodology:

  • The poll is for publicity purposes only and has no weight or bearing in the selection process for national championship field consideration.
  • A panel of head coaches representing each conference and Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) voted on the poll.
  • The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter votes for the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 points for third-place and so on through the list.
  • The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed.
  • Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”.

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