Hounds Sit Atop NCAA Baseball Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- For the first time in school history, the Moravian College baseball team sits atop the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings in the first release of the regional poll for the 2014 season.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- For the first time in school history, the Moravian College baseball team sits atop the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings in the first release of the regional poll for the 2014 season.
The Greyhounds are 27-8 this season, ranked No. 21 in both the D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 Poll and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Top 30 Poll and clinched the top seed in the 2014 Landmark Conference Tournament to be held at Gillespie Field May 3-5.
"I think that being ranked first in the region shows that the program has come a long way," stated eighth-year Head Coach Paul Engelhardt. "A lot of kids helped get us here the last seven years, not just this year. It says a lot about the effort that the players have put in and what we've done to this day. The assistant coaches have put in a lot of hard work with the team as well."
Moravian had a 26-6 record through last Sunday, April 20, the cutoff for the first poll, and the Hounds have played one of the toughest schedules in the country, ranked 19th today on D3baseball's strength of schedule page. Of the 35 games that the Greyhounds have played, 12 have come against teams that are regionally-ranked this week with Moravian putting up a 9-3 record in those games.
The Hounds have wins over Kean University (third in the Mid-Atlantic), Keystone College (seventh in the Mid-Atlantic), Misericordia University (eighth in the Mid-Atlantic) and Adrian (Michigan College (ninth in the Mideast). Moravian won two of three games against Susquehanna University (sixth in the Mid-Atlantic) and swept a doubleheader from Heidelberg (Ohio) University (first in the Mideast). The Greyhounds have split a twin bill with John Carroll (Ohio) University (third in the Mideast) and dropped a game to Alvernia University (fifth in the Mid-Atlantic) on Wednesday. Moravian is slated to play Rowan University (second in the Mid-Atlantic) on May 9.
"This shows the kids have met the challenge, not only playing the schedule we put together but we're able to win the games and compete at that level," Engelhardt said. "I think that will go a long way moving forward if we're fortunate to get into the NCAA Tournament. Not only will we have played those teams but we'll know that we've had success against them."
To view the entire first set of NCAA Division III Regional Rankings, visit http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d3.
The Greyhounds will return to action on Sunday, April 27 when the host New Jersey City University in a non-conference doubleheader at Blue & Grey Field starting at 1:00 p.m.
