Results of the NAIA Coaches’ Poll for April 6, 2010, and Boyd Nation’s Iterative Strength Rating. (poll below)
#1 Lewis-Clark State swept four games against Azusa Pacific. The third game of the series was an 8-7 win in 12 innings. Brian Burke hit a grand slam home run (his 13th home run of the season) in the fifth inning, and Travis Georgius hit an RBI single in the 12th to win it. The Warriors won the fourth game 6-5, on an two-RBI single by Bryan Abrey in the bottom of the ninth. The Warriors have seven pitchers with ERA’s less than 2.0; Stephen Foster is 2-1, 0.50 ERA, Tyrell Poggemeyer is 2-0, 0.92 ERA, with 31 strikeouts. Upcoming: at Division III Willamette April 10-11.
#2 Oklahoma City swept three games against Oklahoma Christian, two of them shutouts. Dustin Williams pitched a complete game for the first shutout, Mike Richard went 8 1/3 innings, allowed four hits and struck out ten in the second one, a 2-0 win for the Stars. Richard is 7-1, 2.17 ERA with 47 strikeouts on the season, and he is the Sooner Athletic Conference pitcher of the week. Williams also has seven wins. The Stars lead the SAC with a 14-1 record. Upcoming: at Oklahoma Baptist April 8 and 10, Oklahoma Baptist April 9.
| RANK | LAST WEEK | ISR | SCHOOL | 2010 RECORD | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Lewis-Clark State (ID) | 28-2 | 684 |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | Oklahoma City | 30-6 | 646 |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Cumberland (TN) | 28-7 | 636 |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | Southern Polytechnic (GA) | 36-5 | 634 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | Cal Baptist | 28-9 | 578 |
| 6 | 9 | 3 | British Columbia | 25-6 | 568 |
| 7 | 8 | 16 | Lee (TN) | 29-9 | 549 |
| 8 | 7 | 12 | Lubbock Christian (TX) | 26-10 | 523 |
| 9 | 6 | 11 | Vanguard (CA) | 25-6 | 522 |
| 10 | 11 | 19 | Bellevue (NE) | 20-6 | 470 |
| 11 | 10 | 17 | Embry-Riddle (FL) | 26-13 | 439 |
| 12 | 12 | 14 | Point Loma Nazarene (CA) | 25-8-1 | 437 |
| 13 | 13 | 8 | Bethel U. (TN) | 22-4-1 | 405 |
| 14 | 14 | 30 | Rio Grande (OH) | 33-4 | 402 |
| 15 | 16 | 15 | Belhaven (MS) | 27-10 | 384 |
| 16 | 18 | 10 | LSU-Shreveport | 28-8 | 339 |
| 17 | 19 | 9 | Union U. (TN) | 24-7 | 302 |
| 18 | 15 | 29 | Madonna (MI) | 20-5 | 271 |
| 19 | 21 | 32 | York (NE) | 26-6 | 261 |
| 20 | 25 | 46 | Milligan (TN) | 23-10 | 228 |
| 21 | 20 | 13 | Fresno Pacific (CA) | 20-8 | 208 |
| 22 | 22 | 53 | Avila (MO) | 22-9 | 193 |
| 23 | RV | 7 | C. of Idaho | 23-9 | 172 |
| T24 | 24 | 23 | Brewton-Parker (GA) | 28-12 | 128 |
| T24 | RV | 24 | Tennessee Wesleyan | 26-10 | 128 |
| 18 | Cal State San Marcos | 22-11 | |||
| 20 | U. of Science and Arts of Oklahoma | 22-9 | |||
| 21 | Trevecca Nazarene (TN) | 24-10 | |||
| 22 | Biola (CA) | 18-10 | |||
| 25 | Missouri Baptist | 21-9 |
First-place votes: Lewis-Clark State 23, Southern Polytechnic 1
#3 Cumberland won two of three against #13 Bethel U. (TN) and defeated #8 Lee 17-16. LHP Shawn Schaefer got his seventh win of the season in a 3-2 win over Bethel, and Aaron Wilkerson got a mercy-rule-shortened 13-0 shutout. In the win over Lee, six Bulldogs hit seven home runs, one of them 3B Matt Greener’s 16th of the season. Greener leads the NAIA in home runs, and his .496 batting average is seventh-best in the NAIA. Upcoming: at Campbellsville April 7, at Trevecca Nazarene (ISR #21) April 9-10.
#4 Southern Polytechnic defeated #7 Lee 4-2 (10 innings, scheduled for 7), then lost the other two games 7-3 and 12-9. David Harden got the win in the first game, and he continues to lead the NAIA with nine wins. Trey Burstrom batted in the winning run. Upcoming: Faulkner April 9-10.
#5 Cal Baptist lost two games at Division II Dixie State, 12-4 and 9-8 (10 innings).
The Lancers continue to lead the Golden State Athletic Conference with a 17-3 record. Upcoming: San Diego Christian April 8, at San Diego Christian April 10.
#6 British Columbia gave up four runs in sweeping four games against Corban. All four Thunderbirds starters, Eric Brown, Sheldon McDonald, Brandon Kaye, and Mark Hardy, were sharp. The fourth game was 3-1, and would have been a lot closer if C Bob Foerster hadn’t caught three baserunners attempting to steal. The Thunderbirds then got a quality 2-1 win against Division I Seattle U. and Brown and McDonald put in good efforts again. The Thunderbirds continue to lead the NAIA West with an 18-2 record. They lead the NAIA with a .980 fielding percentage. Upcoming: Concordia-Portland April 10-11.
#7 Lee won two of three against #4 Southern Polytechnic, and lost to #3 Cumberland. Upcoming: Tennessee Temple April 8, Talladega April 9-10, at U. of the Cumberlands April 12.
#8 Lubbock Christian won two of three against Oklahoma Baptist, and swept a double-header against U. of the Southwest. They needed ten innings and five hits (with three doubles) from Rafael Thomas to win the third game vs. Oklahoma Baptist 17-16, and Thomas scored the winning run. Thomas is batting .500 with 28 at-bats. C Joe Staley leads the Chaparrals with a .464 batting average and 43 RBI. Upcoming: Division II West Texas A&M April 13.
#9 Vanguard didn’t play last week; a game scheduled at La Sierra was cancelled. Upcoming: #12 Point Loma Nazarene April 7-8, at Point Loma Nazarene April 10.
#10 Bellevue swept four games at C. of the Ozarks, one of them a 10-0 shutout pitched by Luis Castillo. Castillo is 3-2, 2.12 ERA with 32 strikeouts. Upcoming: Saint Ambrose April 7, at Central Christian April 9-10.
10 comments
I like the NAIA coverage. I would love to see an article on the top players in NAIA and those who could be drafted reasonably high.
Agreed
Well, Lewis-Clark State is coming to my town a week from now, so I should be able to tell you about some likely draft picks after that.
I do my best to stay on top of players that are having hot streaks, like David Harden of Southern Polytechnic, Brian Burke of Lewis-Clark State, and Shawn Schaefer of Cumberland.
HuskerCoug and Bob: It turned out that I didn’t have to wait a week. Went to a double-header today between British Columbia and Concordia-Portland, and two scouts were there. One of the scouts was paying a lot of attention to British Columbia starter Sheldon McDonald and reliever Danny Britton-Foster. McDonald is a transfer from Northeastern (with a year off in between). They are probably also watching British Columbia SS Sammie Starr, who made a brilliant defensive play in the second game, and hit a game-winning home run in the first game.
Bob,
Thanks for the info. I am planning on attending the NAIA World Series this year and it would be great to know who all to keep an eye on.
HuskerCoug, one of the people you’ll definitely be seeing in Lewiston is Lewis-Clark State reliever Henry Buenrostro, because L-C State has an automatic bid to the tournament as the host team.
We had a different group of scouts in Vancouver today, and they were definitely paying attention when Buenrostro put in a three-inning appearance today.
I mentioned Sheldon McDonald last week. His stock continues to go up, he put in a BRILLIANT appearance against L-C State on Friday; read about it here.
Bob, Thanks. I had already planned on keeping an eye out for Brian Burke but hadn’t really looked at Henry Buenrostro. I might try to make one of LC’s regular games in addition to the tourney. Thanks for info.
Not much left on L-C State’s home schedule; the best opponent they’ve got is Concordia-Portland April 22-24. They have a road game at Gonzaga May 18. Do you live somewhere around Pullman?
I live in Pullman and work at WSU. My boys and I go to a lot of Cougar games but I started following LC some too when they had Beau Mills a few years ago. My wife and I are both from Nebraska so we like to go to the NAIA World Series as we can usually see both LCSC and Bellevue play.
OK, HuskerCoug and Bob, we can return to your original question.
I’ve now actually seen the NAIA prospect list, as of Feb. 1. The L-C State players that are on it are Brian Burke, Todd Muecklisch, Kawika Emsley-Pai, and Tyler Knigge.
Drew Madrigal of Cal Baptist, who has gotten a few mentions in this space, is on the list. One thing I saw that could be classified as unusual is two players from Concordia-Irvine, Bennett Whitmore and Bryan Nicholson. This is the first I’ve heard of Nicholson. He’s a JUCO transfer who has had only 7 at-bats this season, so he must be injured. Whitmore got some ink here early in the season, when Concordia was looking pretty good. They faded when they started conference play (and going up against stiffer competition). However, Whitmore’s numbers as of today are 8-4, 3.27 ERA, and 81 strikeouts. This ties him with Steven Shackelford of Savannah College of Art and Design (also on the prospect list) for 6th place in the NAIA. The NAIA leader is Todd Weldon of Wayland Baptist with 91.
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