Western Oregon Ranked Seventh in NCAA Division II Poll

Salem-News.com SPORTS

MONMOUTH, Ore. - The Western Oregon baseball team is ranked seventh in the first official NCAA Division II west region poll, announced today by the NCAA office.

The top six teams in the final poll, unless the California Collegiate Athletic Association and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament champions are not in that group, will advance to the NCAA tournament May 17th-20th (at the site of the No. 1 seed).

If a team outside the top six wins either conference tournament, they would replace the No. 6 team in the poll.

The Wolves were ranked No. 1 in the region in 2006 for all four polls, and hosted the regional tournament at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer.

In 2007, they are 20-15 overall and are 10-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, with a five-game lead over Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.

Meanwhile, the GNAC-leading Western Oregon softball team is not ranked in this week's west region top 10, because they still don't have a .500 record against NCAA Division II opponents.

The Wolves, 20-18 overall and 9-1 in GNAC play, are 16-18 versus D-II teams.

But in the sport of softball, the GNAC has enough teams in the league to qualify for an automatic berth into the regional tournament.

Western Oregon currently has a three-game lead in the GNAC standings over Seattle and Central Washington.

This week, the Wolves baseball team hosts Central Washington on Sunday (1:00 PM) and Monday (noon), while the softball squad plays Northwest Nazarene today (2:30 PM), and Central Washington on Friday (2:30 PM) and Saturday (11:00 AM).

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