Full Rankings
WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University baseball team (48-12) climbed to second in the final National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll of the 2026 season as announced by the association on Thursday morning after finishing as the National Runner-up at the Division II Baseball Championships in Cary, North Carolina, last week.
West Chester (48-12) set a new program record for wins in a single season with 48 victories in 2026, surpassing the previous record of 46, held by the 2009 and 2012 squads, both of which also advanced to the National Finals in Cary. The Golden Rams started the NCAA Tournament with a 5-0 run through the Atlantic Regional Tournament, including a Super Regional sweep of Millersville, and made an unbeaten run through the bracket in Cary, setting up a matchup with two-time defending National Champion, Tampa, in the Division II National Championship Series. West Chester dropped game one by a 7-4 final in 10 innings before bouncing back with a 12-4 win in the nightcap, behind a complete game by
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) as he became the first WCU pitcher to throw a complete game in Cary since Joe Gunkel did so twice in 2012. West Chester returned to the field for the if-necessary game in the Championship series on Saturday afternoon and battled throughout the afternoon on a sunny, hot June afternoon, but fell by an 8-4 final as Tampa (51-9), which is atop the final poll of the regular season, captured its third straight and 11th Division II Baseball National Championship.
Tampa is the unanimous number one in the final rankings of the year followed by Catawba (49-14), UT-Tyler (50-14), Point Loma (50-12), Central Missouri (41-17), Colorado Mesa (53-7), West Florida (43-16), Grand Valley State (48-10), and Pittsburg State (45-11) to round out the top-10.
Atlantic Region finalist Millersville was the only other team from the Atlantic Region in the top 25, ranked 20
th, while Seton Hill, Bloomsburg, and East Stroudsburg all received votes.
