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College  | Rankings | 6/10/2026

Final DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update

Nick Herfordt
NCAA DII
Final Preseason NCAA  State Record
1 2 Tampa Spartans FL 51-9
2 West Chester Golden Rams PA 48-12
3 1 Texas Tyler Patriots TX 50-14
4 3 Catawba Indians NC 49-14
5 8 Point Loma Sea Lions CA 50-13
6 11 Colorado Mesa Mavericks CO 53-7
7 19 Francis Marion Patriots SC 46-14
8 7 North Greenville Trailblazers SC 49-12
9 13 Pittsburg State Gorillas KS 45-11
10 12 Central Missouri Mules MO 40-17
11 20 Augustana Vikings SD 45-16
12 West Florida Argos FL 43-16
13 14 Young Harris Mountain Lions GA 41-18
14 16 Angelo State Rams TX 42-19
15 10 Grand Valley State Lakers MI 48-10
16 Millersville Marauders PA 39-18
17 Rollins Tars FL 36-16
18 9 Seton Hill Griffins PA 42-12
19 21 Wingate Bulldogs NC 40-19
20 15 Lenoir-Rhyne Bears NC 37-13-1
21 4 Belmont Abbey Crusaders NC 38-16
22 6 East Stroudsburg Warriors PA 37-16
23 Bentley Falcons MA 44-17
24 North Georgia Nighthawks GA 42-16
25 UIndy Greyhounds IN 39-24


The University of Tampa didn't just win another national championship in Cary, North Carolina. The Spartans cemented their flag on the mountaintop of college baseball history.



With an 8-4 victory over West Chester University at the USA Baseball National Training Complex, top ranked Tampa captured the 2026 NCAA Division II National Championship, securing an NCAA-record 11th national title and becoming the first Division II program ever to three-peat.

Let that sink in for a second. Three straight seasons. Three straight trophies. One dynasty.

The Spartans' latest masterpiece pushes them beyond the boundaries of Division II history. Tampa, which finished the season at 51-9, became the first NCAA baseball program at any level to win three consecutive national championships since Southern California rattled off five straight from 1970 to 1974.

Under head coach Joe Urso, winning has become more than a habit. It's become a standard. Urso now owns eight national championships and six 50-win seasons during his legendary run in Tampa. Yet despite the program's overflowing trophy case, this celebration carried a fresh spark. For 22 players on the current roster, Saturday marked their first national title.

And they earned it from the opening pitch.

In the winner-take-all third game of the championship series, Tampa never blinked. Jesse Ponce ignited the offense with an RBI double in the first inning, bringing home Jordan Evans for the game's first run. Brayden Woodburn and Jake Books added RBI hits in the second, and suddenly the Spartans had a 3-0 cushion.

Then came the knockout punch.

Woodburn doubled home another run in the fourth before Jhoander Irigoyen unloaded a two-run double that stretched the lead to 6-0 and sent the Tampa dugout into full celebration mode. West Chester refused to disappear quietly, scratching across runs in the fifth, seventh, and ninth innings, but every Golden Rams surge was met with another Tampa answer.

Books drove in his second run of the day in the sixth, and the Spartans' pitching staff handled the rest.

Because when championships are on the line, Tampa always seems to find another arm.

Starting on short rest, John Luke Glanton delivered 4 2/3 gritty innings, allowing just one run while scattering five hits.

From there, Luke Fikar took over and slammed the door. The versatile star covered the final 4 1/3 innings to earn the win, adding another chapter to an unforgettable postseason run.

Fikar's impact was impossible to ignore. After helping Tampa win both Game 1 and Game 3 of the championship series while also delivering key offensive contributions, he was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The championship series itself felt worthy of the moment. Tampa captured Game 1 in extra innings, 7-4, West Chester responded with a 12-4 statement in Game 2, and the Spartans answered with an exclamation point in the finale.
When the infield dust settled, the accolades followed.

Tampa placed five players on the All-Tournament Team: catcher Jhoander Irigoyen, shortstop Jesse Ponce, outfielders
Brayden Woodburn and Jake Books, and pitcher Luke Fikar. Irigoyen went 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs in the championship game, while Woodburn stuffed the stat sheet with two doubles, two RBIs, and two intentional walks.

The latest trophy adds another golden chapter to a legacy unlike anything Division II baseball has ever seen.

The Spartans' championship collection now includes titles in 1992, 1993, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2024, 2025, and 2026. Six of those have come in Cary. Eight have arrived since 2006.

Three years. Three championships. Eleven national titles.

The rest of Division II is chasing championships.The University of Tampa is chasing immortality.

NAIA
Final Preseason School State Record
1 1 Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs TN 49-15
2 4 Taylor Trojans IN 56-7
3 5 Southeastern Fire FL 45-18
4 13 William Carey Crusaders MS 41-20
5 8 Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies GA 49-8
6 9 Johnson Royals TN 40-14
7 Indiana Southeast Grenadiers IN 44-16
8 14 Doane Tigers NE 47-11
9 Lewis-Clark State Warriors ID 45-9
10 Mid-America Christian Evangels OK 43-15
11 7 Cumberlands Patriots KY 48-10
12 3 Hope International Royals CA 39-15
13 2 LSU Shreveport Pilots LA 43-14
14 12 Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes KS 50-9
15 Bellevue Bruins NE 50-6
16 10 Missouri Baptist Spartans MO 40-12
17 11 Webber International Warriors FL 39-19
18 Milligan Buffaloes TN 41-15
19 6 Loyola Wolf Pack LA 37-19
20 Louisiana Christian Wildcats LA 37-15
21 Texas Wesleyan Rams TX 42-12
22 British Columbia Thunderbirds BC 40-17
23 15 Keiser Seahawks FL 36-19
24 24 Abraham Baldwin Stallions GA 40-17
25 23 Concordia Bulldogs NE 38-18


Sometimes the preseason favorite buckles under the weight of expectations.

Tennessee Wesleyan turned those expectations into a trophy.

From the day the preseason rankings were released, the Bulldogs wore the target. Perfect Game's preseason NAIA Top 25 installed Tennessee Wesleyan at the top spot, citing a roster loaded with talent, experience, and the kind of championship DNA that rarely flinches under pressure.

Three and a half months later, the Bulldogs didn't just prove the prediction right. They steamrolled the competition.

Tennessee Wesleyan put an emphatic exclamation point on its 2026 season with a jaw-dropping 21-3 demolition of top-seeded Taylor University in Lewiston, Idaho, capturing the 69th Avista NAIA World Series and bringing a third national championship banner back to Athens.

And they did it in record-breaking fashion.

The 18-run victory margin was the largest in NAIA World Series championship game history. The Bulldogs' 22 hits were the most recorded in a title game since 1958. By the time the final out settled into a glove, Tennessee Wesleyan had transformed the national championship game into a history lesson.

The Bulldogs looked in control almost from the opening act.

Kolton Reynolds crossed the plate on an Ethan Wright sacrifice fly in the second inning before Allan Gil Fernandez launched a three-run blast that sent the Tennessee Wesleyan dugout into celebration mode and pushed the lead to 4-0. A three-run third inning followed, fueled by a Brayan Espinoza RBI single and a costly Taylor defensive miscue, and suddenly the Bulldogs were sprinting away with the national title.

Taylor fought back briefly. Brennan Frickel's solo homer highlighted a three-run stretch that cut the deficit to 11-3 in the fifth inning.

That was as close as the Trojans would get.

What followed felt less like a championship game and more like a championship parade.

Tennessee Wesleyan unloaded four more runs in the seventh inning, six in the eighth, and never took its foot off the gas. Reynolds delivered the night's final highlight with a towering three-run homer to right field, putting a bow on one of the most dominant performances the NAIA championship stage has ever witnessed.

Reynolds was unstoppable, finishing a perfect 5-for-5 with five RBIs and five runs scored. Gil Fernandez piled up four hits and three RBIs. Espinoza added four hits and three RBIs of his own, while David Ballenilla stuffed the box score with three hits, three RBIs, and three runs scored.

The pitching staff quietly handled the rest.

Starter McGwire Taylor struck out six over 4 2/3 innings before Cameron Goffar slammed the door with 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory. Colton Brumley recorded the final outs, setting off a celebration nearly four months in the making.

When the awards ceremony began, it quickly turned into a Tennessee Wesleyan showcase.

Gil Fernandez was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Rob Gordon earned the Charles Berry Hustle Award. Reynolds took home Gold Glove honors. Six Bulldogs landed on the All-Tournament Team, including Josh Shelly, Gil Fernandez, Ballenilla, Reynolds, Justin Jackson, and McGwire Taylor.

The championship further cements Tennessee Wesleyan's place among the NAIA's blue-blood programs.

The Bulldogs became just the third active NAIA baseball program and only the fifth overall to claim three national championships. They finished the season 49-15, extended their streak to six consecutive 40-win campaigns, and have now reached the 40-win mark in 11 of the last 12 seasons.

But perhaps the most impressive part of the journey is how predictable it all seemed.

The Bulldogs entered the season ranked No. 1. They carried the pressure every step of the way. They survived the grind, overcame injuries, navigated the postseason, arrived in Lewiston, and then delivered a championship-game performance for the ages.

Picked first. Finished first. Tennessee Wesleyan didn't just win the 2026 NAIA national championship. The Bulldogs authored one of the most dominant title-game performances the association has ever seen.

NCAA DIII
Final Preseason School State Record
1 3 Denison Big Red OH 51-3
2 2 Endicott Gulls MA 44-14
3 6 Salisbury Seagulls MD 37-11
4 15 Rowan Profs NJ 38-7
5 12 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays MD 38-12
6 21 East Texas Baptist Tigers TX 40-13
7 1 Lynchburg Hornets VA 40-8-1
8 22 Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets OH 37-12
10 5 Salve Regina Seahawks RI 40-8
11 4 UW-Whitewater Warhawks WI 43-6
12 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags CA 35-15
12 Adrian Bulldogs MI 40-14
13 10 Messiah Falcons PA 36-15
14 Shenandoah Hornets VA 37-12
15 University of Chicago  IL 30-15
16 9 Kean Cougars NJ 31-13-1
17 Bethany Vikings MN 35-8
18 Piedmont Lions GA 33-15
19 16 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens CA 33-14
20 11 Cortland State Red Dragons NY 30-12-1
21 Washington Bears MO 30-13
22 Bridgewater Eagles VA 35-15
23 Concordia (TX) Tornados TX 31-17
24 Tufts Jumbos MA 31-11
25* Transylvania Pioneers KY 30-14
25* Russell Sage Gators NY 37-8
25* 20 Belhaven Blazers MS 31-15


The signs were there long before the first pitch of the season.

Denison opened 2026 ranked third in Perfect Game's preseason Division III Top 25 after a breakthrough campaign that saw the Big Red reach the Division III World Series for the first time in program history. Expectations were sky-high in Granville.

Turns out, they weren't high enough.

What followed was not merely the best season Denison baseball has ever produced. It was the kind of season that becomes legendary.

In a championship series finale that felt ripped straight from a Hollywood script, Denison defeated Endicott 4-3 in 10 innings at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, capturing the program's first NCAA Division III National Championship and completing a historic 51-3 season.

And fittingly, the biggest moment belonged to one final swing.

With the game tied in the bottom of the 10th, Kelly Crittenberger raced home on a laser off the bat of Jack Lutte. The ball smashed off the wall in right field, Crittenberger crossed the plate, and seconds later Lutte disappeared beneath a tidal wave of red jerseys pouring from the dugout.

Game over. History made. National champions.

The walk-off victory served as the perfect ending for a team that seemed destined to find drama at every turn. Denison finished the year 51-3, tied the NCAA record with 44 consecutive victories, and somehow managed to navigate the entire season without suffering a single losing streak. Yet it was the final day that tested every ounce of that resilience.

The Big Red appeared poised to celebrate early after blanking Endicott 6-0 in Game 1 of the championship series. One more victory stood between Denison and its first national title.

Instead, Game 2 delivered heartbreak.

Despite a jaw-dropping performance from Cade Nowik, who blasted three home runs and drove in seven runs to tie a College World Series record, Endicott escaped with an 11-10 walk-off victory in 10 innings to force a winner-take-all finale.
Hours later, Denison found itself staring at another challenge.

Endicott jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind a two-run homer from star slugger TJ Liponis, and for the first time all postseason, the Big Red looked vulnerable.

Then came the response.

Max Fishbein launched Denison's first hit of the game with a fifth-inning homer that breathed life back into the dugout. Eron Vega and Erik Sundgren followed with RBI knocks in the sixth, knotting the score at 3-3 and setting the stage for extra innings.

The offense delivered the headline. The pitching delivered the championship.

Freshman Devin Parker authored one of the gutsiest relief performances of the season, throwing 7 1/3 fabulous scoreless innings while allowing just two hits across 109 pitches. By the late innings, there was no debate in the dugout.

The kid wasn't coming out.

Parker slammed the door inning after inning, keeping the game tied long enough for Lutte's championship-winning heroics to arrive.

When the celebration began, the awards quickly followed.

Nowik was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while Denison landed six players on the All-Tournament Team: Fishbein, Vega, Nowik, Lutte, Sundgren, Cooper Marrs, and Parker.

Yet what made the championship run so remarkable wasn't simply how Denison finished.

It was how they got there.

The Big Red became the first Division III program in 26 years to lose its opening game at the World Series and still win the national championship, joining Montclair State's 2000 squad in one of the tournament's rarest club memberships. After an opening-round loss to East Texas Baptist, Denison clawed through the elimination bracket, taking down Johns Hopkins, Baldwin Wallace, and East Texas Baptist twice to keep its season alive.

Survive.

Advance.

Repeat.

That became the formula.

Even before arriving in Eastlake, the Big Red had already shown their flair for the dramatic by sweeping through regional play with three consecutive walk-off victories.

By season's end, the script practically wrote itself.

The championship also capped one of the greatest athletic years in school history. Denison's baseball title joined NCAA championships won by men's swimming and diving and women's basketball, making the Big Red one of only three Division III institutions, alongside Tufts and UW-La Crosse, to capture three or more NCAA national championships during the 2025-26 academic year.

For head coach Mike Deegan, who has steadily transformed the program into a national contender since arriving in 2013, the title represented the culmination of more than a decade of building.

For the players, it was about something simpler.

"You play for the guy next to you."

Over six exhausting hours, 20 innings of championship baseball, and a postseason journey filled with elimination games, walk-offs, comebacks, and record-setting streaks, that mindset carried Denison all the way to the summit.

Fifty-one wins. Forty-four straight victories. One unforgettable walk-off.

And at long last, a national championship trophy heading home to Granville.
 
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