After a stunning run to the NCAA Division III World Series, Whitworth is ranked 8th in the final 2012 D3baseball.com/ NCBWA top-25 poll, which was released today.

Until this final poll of 2012 the Pirates had never received a single vote for any top-25 baseball poll as a member of Division III.

Whitworth finished the season 31-16-1 and in sixth place at the NCAA Division III World Series. The Bucs went 1-2 with a win over 5th-ranked Christopher Newport and losses to eventual champion and top-ranked Marietta and fourth-ranked SUNY Cortland.

Whitworth advanced to the DIII baseball finals after capturing the McMinnville Regional as the #3 seed. Included in the regional run was a pair of wins over 13th-ranked Trinity (Texas) and a victory over top-seeded and 15th-ranked Concordia (Texas).

The Pirates broke the previous school record for wins in a single season (26) set in 1989. Whitworth also set single-season school records for games played (48), total at-bats (1708), total hits (522), doubles (89 – tied with 1897, 1992), sacrifice bunts/flies (70), team fielding percentage (.966), innings pitched (432.2) and batters struck out (315).

Seven starters will return for head coach Dan Ramsay in 2013, including All-American outfielder Tyler Pfeffer, First Team All-NWC shortstop Nick Motsinger and First Team All-NWC starting pitcher Dan Scheibe.

2012 D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 final

Through games of Wednesday May 30

#
School (1st votes)
Rec
Pts
Prev.

1
Marietta (25)
48-8
625
1

2
Wheaton (Mass.)
41-11
590
9

3
St. Thomas
41-10
580
4

4
Cortland State
41-9-1
552
2

5
Christopher Newport
34-10
506
6

6
Kean
37-12
480
8

7
Webster
36-14
449
-

8
Whitworth
31-16-1
447
-

9
Keystone
37-8
392
3

10
Birmingham-Southern
38-9
391
7

11
Salisbury
34-9
349
5

12
Adrian
37-10
270
10

13
Trinity (Texas)
37-12
266
15

14
St. Joseph's (Maine)
39-7
253
11

15
Concordia (Texas)
37-11
215
12

16
UW-La Crosse
34-11
212
13

17
Western New England
38-13
210
21

18
Shenandoah
31-13
165
20

19
Aurora
38-10
144
17

20
Washington and Jefferson
36-10
141
16

21
Misericordia
36-10
129
14

22
Trinity (Conn.)
34-11
128
24

23
Ramapo
35-15
113
-

24
UW-Whitewater
33-17
110
-

25
St. Scholastica
35-11
89
23

Dropped Out:No. 22 DePauw, No. 19 Lynchburg, No. 25 Texas-Tyler.

Also receiving votes: Rowan 68, St. John Fisher 59, Farmingdale State 51, Keene State 22, Lynchburg 21, Manchester 20, Texas-Tyler 14, DePauw 12, Eastern Connecticut 9, Alvernia 8, Illinois Wesleyan 7, Ithaca 6, Coe 5, Drew 5, North Park 4, Concordia (Ill.) 2, UW-Stevens Point 2, Rhodes 2, Montclair State 1, Chicago 1.