For a number of NAIA teams, when the final out was made in last weekend’s games, it signified the end of their school’s season. For the teams who weren’t fortunate enough to tally as many wins as they hoped and qualify for the postseason, there are no more games remaining on their schedule. Likewise, the end of their season is rapidly approaching or has already come to a close for an increasing number of number of NCAA D-II and D-III clubs as well. The end is nigh.

For the majority of teams listed in the Top 25 rankings they can reasonably rest assured that they have some more baseball left in their tank. They’ve qualified for conference tournaments and most likely will be playing in their division’s national tournament as well. Along with this week’s update a special look will be made at a trio of teams in each division whose postseason forecast is still a bit cloudy.

For each of the three mentioned they’re not worried about their conference tournament; they’ve already reached that mile marker. Instead they’re hoping their final destination will be further into the future with an opportunity to play in regionals, and hopefully in final series. Keep a special eye on these clubs and see if their postseason outcome keeps pace with their high-minded aspirations.

Rankings are based on games through Sunday, April 30.

NCAA Division II

Cal Baptist Lancers
CBU has weekly received perpetual consideration for rankings inclusion since the preseason, but for one reason or another has consistently remained on the outside looking in. They’ve accumulated an enviable résumé of wins which includes defeats of Colorado Mesa, Dixie State, Azusa Pacific and Point Loma, however they sport some curious losses as well, namely a recent pair to Holy Names, which has inevitably kept them out. Nevertheless, after their sweep of Hawai?i Hilo last weekend Cal Baptist claims an open spot in the rankings vacated by Central Missouri. As the currently fifth-ranked team from the West Region the Lancers are relatively assured of a spot in the extended postseason and should sleep easy, but a trio of wins over Concordia would certainly seal the deal.

Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles
With their rotation returning following a second trip to the D-II Championship Series in three years the Eagles were on the shortlist of preseason favorites to make yet another trip to the finals. Despite the optimistic prognostication and a preseason top 15 ranking, USI’s season hasn’t gone accordingly. They started the season with a unScreagle-like 12-14 record, but their fortunes have seen quite the turnaround since early April. The Eagles have gone 17-2 since then which includes an impressive four-game, two shutout sweep of Indianapolis last weekend. USI very well may be the best team in the Midwest, but overcoming their clunky start in the eyes of some pollsters has been a difficult obstacle. USI finishes the regular season with a much-win series against St. Joseph’s College, one which will be emotionally charged as they’re the last home games for the Pumas whose entire school is being shuttered after the season.

New Haven Chargers
With a 22-9 overall record and a second place position in the NE-10 Southeast Division the Chargers have postseason credentials, but need a little more oomph to make sure they get to play in the East Region tournament. Their sweep of Le Moyne last week helped their chances considerably, but New Haven could really put the invite in the bag this week with a midweek win over current division standings’ pole sitter Southern Connecticut State combined with a sweep of conference also ran American International. The Chargers have a pair of top shelf starters in Tim Kennedy and David Palmer who could make them very, very dangerous in the postseason as two quick wins in a tournament are a immeasurable advantage.

Rk.	Prev.	School	ST	Record	Week
1	1	Tampa Spartans	FL	32-11	3-0
2	2	North Georgia Nighthawks	GA	40-8	4-0
3	3	Chico State Wildcats	CA	38-7	4-0
4	4	Emporia State Hornets	KS	37-9	3-1
5	5	Mercyhurst Lakers	PA	34-4	3-1
6	6	USC Aiken Pacers	SC	36-11	2-0
7	8	Colorado Mesa Mavericks	CO	37-9	3-1
8	10	Dixie State Trailblazers	UT	35-10-1	4-0
9	7	Lubbock Christian Chaparrals	TX	33-12	1-2
10	9	Mount Olive Trojans	NC	46-8	4-1
11	11	Angelo State Rams	TX	36-10	4-0
12	12	Azusa Pacific Cougars	CA	38-8	4-0
13	17	Nova Southeastern Sharks	FL	31-15	3-0
14	19	Minnesota State Mavericks	MN	38-7	4-0
15	20	West Chester Golden Rams	PA	30-7	4-0
16	16	Delta State Statesman	MS	36-11	2-2
17	15	Southern Arkansas Muleriders	AR	36-12	3-2
18	13	Florida Southern Moccasins	FL	30-13	0-3
19	14	UC San Diego Tritons	CA	29-14	1-3
20	18	Georgia College Bobcats	GA	31-13	1-2
21	25	Southern New Hampshire Penmen	NH	33-6	6-0
22	21	Northwood Wolves	MI	35-11	2-2
23	22	West Texas A&M Buffs	TX	31-13	2-2
24	24	Belmont Abbey Crusaders	NC	33-16	3-1
25	NR	Cal Baptist Lancers	CA	31-15	4-0

Dropped out: Central Missouri (23).

NAIA

University of the Cumberlands Patriots
The Patriots looks like a national postseason shoo-in a couple of weeks ago, but after being swept by another bubble team, Campbellsville, their postseason prospects were put into a bit of a pickle. Their ace Noah Gapp suffered a loss and was roughed up for six earned runs in seven innings by an extremely under .500 Shawnee State team which required the Pats to take the next two to earn a spot in the Mid-South Conference Tournament. The Pats took the series, but will still likely need some tournament W’s to earn an invite into the NAIA postseason. They really, really, really could use Gapp to establish his commanding first half of the season form. While his ERA is a still impressive, 2.15, that number has doubled over his last 30 innings on the mound.

LSU Alexandria Generals
The Generals are another team riding a second half surge into the postseason. After sweeping LSUS last weekend LSUA claimed their third straight River City Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship, an outcome that didn’t seem likely mid-March following an embarrassing 20-7 mercy-run loss to Texas A&M Texarkana which left them with a respectable yet unremarkable 18-14 record. Their 15-5 record since then typically would make them a postseason lock, but the Generals haven’t been performing in their matchups against ranked opposition. LSUA suffered a four home game sweep to Faulkner (two of which by 10 runs) and another four to William Carey (two of which by at least nine). Had the Generals been able to capture a least one of those games their long-term postseason prospects would be much more optimistic.

Indiana Southeast Grenadiers and Point Park Pioneers
The Grenadiers and Pioneers recently split a pair of doubleheaders to shed little light on which River States Conference team is superior. Point Park won the regular season conference title, however IU Southeast has better non-conference results with wins over Huntington and Campbellsville. Both schools have all-round ability, which could carry them far in the postseason if they can click on all cylinders. Point Park ranks among the national leaders in batting average and fielding percentage (with a good pitching staff to boot) and the Grenadiers are amongst the leaders in scoring ability with a team fearless and opportunistic on the basepaths.

Rk.	Prev.	School	ST	Record	Week
1	1	Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles	OK	44-9	3-0
2	2	Oklahoma City Stars	OK	41-8	0-0
3	3	Bellevue Bruins	NE	47-7	5-0
4	4	Faulkner Eagles	AL	43-10	3-0
5	5	Northwestern Ohio Racers	OH	39-10	3-0
6	6	Southeastern Fire	FL	44-8	2-0
7	8	Middle Georgia State Knights	GA	40-12	3-0
8	13	Texas Wesleyan Rams	TX	41-11	5-0
9	9	Webber International Warriors	FL	36-13	0-1
10	10	Keiser Seahawks	FL	36-16	0-0
11	11	St. Thomas Bobcats	FL	34-15	0-0
12	12	Missouri Baptist Spartans	MO	35-12	0-0
13	14	William Carey Crusaders	MS	36-15	5-0
14	15	Indiana Tech Warriors	IN	37-10	3-0
15	7	Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs	TN	35-18	1-4
16	16	USAO Drovers	OK	39-13	0-0
17	17	Tabor Bluejays	KS	38-13	4-1
18	18	Clarke Crusaders	IA	41-10	2-1
19	21	Davenport Panthers	MI	36-13	4-0
20	20	Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies	GA	35-19	3-1
21	22	Biola Eagles	CA	34-16	2-1
22	25	Concordia Cardinals	MI	41-9	4-0
23	23	Menlo Oaks	CA	33-16	1-1
24	NR	Indiana Southeast Grenadiers	IN	42-11	6-0
25	NR	Cumberlands Patriots	KY	39-15	3-1

Dropped out: Bryan (19), Huntington (24).

NCAA Division III

Linfield Wildcats
Despite starting the season with an unimpressive 8-7 record, Linfield has established themselves as one of the top teams in the western time zone.  The Wildcats won both the regular season and NWC tournament titles thanks to a standout statistical performer both on offense and on the mound. Scott Hilpert is leading the team with a .383 batting average and his 12 home runs tie him for third in D-III. Meanwhile on the mound Cason Cunningham has a 1.92 ERA and has struck out 100 batters in 79 2/3 innings while rudely allowing opposition to a measly 40 hits.

St. Scholastica Saints
The Saints are routinely one of the most difficult teams to gauge as they constantly compile an ultra high winning percentage, yet many of the wins come at the expense of their less-than-spectacular Upper Midwest Athletic Conference opposition. St. Scholastica went 15-1 last season in the UMAC and are currently 12-0 with several lopsided wins. Just last Saturday the Saints crumpled Northwestern Minnesota by a combined score of 33-3 in two mercy rule shortened contests. Nevertheless, even if they score half the runs they’re accustomed to going forward, they should have the ability to get earn some wins in the NCAA’s as they’re averaging a robust nine wins per game on the season.

Wartburg Knights
The Knights started the season ranked, but like many of the teams listed above, had a irksome start to the spring and looked like a non-contender. Wartburg was once 7-7 but now boasts a 26-10 overall record, going 19-3 since their woeful start to once again top the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Just last week they demonstrated their prowess in a series against Central College, punctuated with a 15-0 thrashing in the finale. The Knights, while not having won a regional as of late, are nonetheless never a pushover in the extended postseason. In their last three appearances they’ve managed a win and could easily earn more if a few balls bounce their way.

Rk.	Prev.	School	ST	Record	Week
1	3	Oswego State Lakers	NY	28-8	5-0
2	2	Birmingham-Southern Panthers	AL	32-6	2-0
3	1	Shenandoah Hornets	VA	33-6	2-3
4	5	Cortland State Red Dragons	NY	33-7	4-0
5	4	Wooster Fighting Scots	OH	24-5	3-1
6	6	Centenary Gents	LA	34-8	3-1
7	7	UW-Whitewater Warhawks	WI	26-6	3-1
8	8	Tyler Texas Patriots	TX	33-6	2-1
9	9	LaGrange Panthers	GA	38-4	0-0
10	10	La Roche Redhawks	PA	26-6	4-2
11	13	Tufts Jumbos	MA	25-5-1	4-0
12	12	Salisbury Seagulls	MD	31-9	1-1
13	11	Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets	VA	25-12	1-2
14	14	Emory Eagles	GA	27-12	0-0
15	15	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	MD	32-6	4-0
16	16	St. John Fisher Cardinals	NY	27-7	4-1
17	17	UT Dallas Comets	TX	31-9	3-0
18	18	Washington Bears	MO	20-8	0-0
19	19	Cal Lutheran Kingsmen	CA	28-10	2-1
20	21	Southern Maine Huskies	ME	25-8	4-1
21	22	Washington & Jefferson Presidents	PA	26-7	3-0
22	23	St. Joseph’s Monks	ME	30-6	4-0
23	20	Salve Regina Seahawks	RI	30-7	3-2
24	25	Concordia University Chicago Cougars	IL	24-11	2-0
25	24	Linfield Wildcats	WA	30-13	2-2

Dropped out: None.

Originally appeared on Perfect Game website: https://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=13849