May 8, 2007

Pacific Lutheran Drops One Spot in ABCA National Poll

Pacific Lutheran dropped one spot to 15th in the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III national poll released today.

The Lutes had been ranked 14th with a 29-7 record in the previous poll released on April 24. Despite winning its final three regular season games to improve to 32-7, they lost eight points in the voting to drop one position.

Pacific Lutheran remains in the third spot in the ABCA West Region poll, trailing Chapman (35-5 overall and ranked No. 2 in the nation) and Texas Lutheran (35-8-1 and ranked No. 9 in the nation).

The ABCA poll is a non-sanctioned poll, however, and has no bearing on regional tournament selection and seeding. Tournament selection and seeding are based on the NCAA's official regional poll, and the most current edition of that poll (May 3) shows the Lutes ranked No. 2 in the West Region behind Chapman. Rounding out the NCAA West Region poll are George Fox, Texas-Dallas, Texas Lutheran and Pomona-Pitzer. The NCAA poll can be viewed at http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/polls/.

The Lutes won the Northwest Conference title to earn a berth in one of eight NCAA Division III regional tournaments. They will find out where and who they play when the brackets are announced on Sunday, May 13.

- PLU -