The Ashland University baseball team moved to the top spot in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region rankings released on Wednesday (May 1) afternoon.
This is the second edition of the region rankings, which had the Eagles second last week.
The top eight teams in the region will qualify for the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament with automatic bids going to the tournament champions of the GLIAC, Great Lakes Valley Conference and Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
The regional tournament will be split into two sites this year with the top two teams that place bids earning the right to host. That will be held May16-18. The winners of each four-team regional will meet for a three-game series in the super regional round May 24-25.
The Eagles (34-9, 14-6 GLIAC) are coming off a week in which they went 4-2, sweeping Ohio Dominican last Tuesday before splitting a four-game set at Northwood over the weekend.
Ashland is seeking its 17th berth in the NCAA Tournament and 16th under head coach John Schaly, who has the Eagles playing one of their best seasons in program history. AU ranks sixth in Division II in winning percentage (.794) and is one of just eight teams in the nation with fewer than 10 losses.
Ashland is one of three GLIAC teams listed in the Midwest Region rankings, along with Wayne State (No. 3) and Northwood (No. 5).
The Eagles have one series left in the regular season before the GLIAC Tournament starts on May 9 in Traverse City, Mich. Ashland leads in the GLIAC standings over second-place Purdue Northwest (15-9 GLIAC) and third-place Wayne State (14-9 GLIAC).
Ashland and Purdue Northwest square off Friday (May 3) at 4 p.m. ET in Hammond, Ind. to start their four-game series.
The full NCAA Division II Midwest Region rankings follow.
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