May 1, 2019

Benedictine Sitting Fourth in Regional Rankings

More news about: Benedictine

The NCAA released the second set of regional rankings and the Benedictine University baseball team is still in strong contention for a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Regionals, sitting fourth in the Midwest.

"Still being ranked where we are is a tribute to our strength of schedule and how we've been able to defeat some of the best teams from around the nation," head coach Adam Smith said. "This week will be what it is all about. Carthage, North Park and of course Concordia Chicago for senior day on Saturday is a fantastic way to end the regular season. We will see where we are on Sunday night, but I can't wait to get it going."

The rankings, used to determine the field for the NCAA Championship, are released every Wednesday and take into account action through Sunday of the week prior. There will be two more sets of rankings, one public release next week before the un-published set of final rankings to set the field.

Benedictine was 20-12 in the most recent rankings. Concordia Chicago led the region followed by UW-Whitewater, UW-La Crosse, Benedictine, Aurora, St. John's, St. Scholastica and Gustavus Adolphus. Benedictine was third last week, but went 3-3 to fall behind UW-La Crosse, who Benedictine shut out 1-0 in Florida on March 18.

The second set of rankings take into account results against regionally ranked opponents. Benedictine owns a .539 in-division strength of schedule, fifth in the region. The team is currently 4-6 against regionally ranked opponents. Just seven other teams in the region have 10 or more results against regionally ranked foes and Benedictine still has three games with regionally ranked opponents on the docket.

This week's schedule, the final week of the regular season, already includes a sweep of Edgewood. Benedictine (22-12) faces Carthage tonight in a non-conference game before hosting Concordia Chicago on Saturday and taking on North Park in a single non-conference game on Sunday.