BEVERLY, Mass. – After their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship victory over Western New England, Endicott's baseball team has jumped the Golden Bears and secured the #3 spot in the most recent NCAA Division III Regional Rankings, released Thursday afternoon on NCAA.com.
The Gulls (32-12) had earned their highest regional ranking in program history when they debuted at the sixth spot two weeks ago. Since then, they have moved up to fourth and now third place in the rankings as they have won 13 of their last 14 games, culminating in a 12-3 win in Springfield in Sunday's championship game.
Southern Maine (33-7), who has defeated the Gulls twice this year, kept their hold on the top spot, while Wheaton (Mass.) (30-10) sits second after earning the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) title last weekend.
Following Endicott and Western New England are #5 Eastern Connecticut State (28-11-1), #6 MIT (23-11) and #7 St. Joseph's (Maine) (29-11).
The Gulls defeated both the Engineers and the Monks in back-to-back games in March, and also collected a win over ninth-ranked Bowdoin (23-13) during the team's Spring Break trip to Florida.
Endicott has earned its first conference title since 2005-06 and the CCC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament, starting May 15th.
The selections for the NCAA Division III baseball tournament will be released on Sunday, May 12th, when the Gulls will find out their opponent for the first game of the double-elimination event.
The NCAA regional rankings are the biggest factor in deciding which teams receive at-large bids into the NCAA Regional tournament. The poll is voted on by a regional committee, made up of Division III coaches.
