It’s time for you, the D2 baseball fans, to vote for the HERO Sports Team of the Month for April. Here’s how we came up with the candidates for this month’s vote.
We calculate the points for current BennettRank as follows: reverse the rankings and award the corresponding number of points to each team. With 266 teams in D2 baseball, the team ranked BR-1 in the final BennettRank earns 266 points, the team ranked BR-2 earns 265 points, etc. Points are awarded in descending order all the way down to the team ranked BR-266 (last), who earns one point.
Then each team earns up to 441 points based on their change in BennettRank over the course of the month. To get to this number, we take the BennettRank from April 5 and subtract it from last month's final BennettRank. For example, if a team started at BR-76 and ended the month at BR-34, their change is 42. We then order all 266 teams based on this change. The team that made the biggest improvement earns 266 points, then the second biggest improvement earns 265 points, etc. We then continue in descending order with the team that improved the least (and actually saw a negative change) earning a single point.
From there, we took the top score from each region (in most cases) and chose them as our eight nominees for Team of the Month.
Voting closes Friday afternoon at noon Pacific time, so be sure to get your vote in on time, and share with friends so they can vote as well. Let's get to it.
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Mercyhurst Lakers
Region: Atlantic
Conference: Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
Record: 37-10
April 5 BennettRank: 88
April 25 BennettRank: 26
Change: 62
Points: 506
Why the Lakers Deserve to Win: The Lakers enter next week’s PSAC tournament as the top seed in the Western Division after a dominating month which saw them win 21 out of 23 games, including 14 of 16 within the division.
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Washburn Ichabods
Region: Central
Conference: Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Assocation
Overall Record: 31-15
April Record: 16-3
April 5 BennettRank: 65
April 25 BennettRank: 28
Change: +37
Points: 496
Why the Ichabods Deserve to Win: Heading into this weekend’s three-game series at BR-66 Central Missouri, the Ichabods, who were picked to finish sixth out of 14 teams in the MIAA at the start of the season, have gone 16-3 this month and are three games back of the Mules for first place.
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Franklin Pierce Ravens
Region: East
Conference: Northeast-10 Conference
Overall Record: 40-4
April Record: 18-2
April 4 BennettRank: 29
April 25 BennettRank: 12
Change: +17
Points: 489
Why the Ravens Deserve to Win: The Ravens boast a 12 game win streak after this weekend’s sweep of BR-128 Merrimack and secured their spot in our vote after defeating NE-10 Northeast Division leading BR-13 Southern New Hampshire – who was originally projected to represent the East Region in this poll (515 points) last Wednesday.
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Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers
Region: Midwest
Conference: Great Midwest Athletic Conference
Overall Record: 32-13
April Record: 20-3
April 4 BennettRank: 176
April 25 BennettRank: 103
Change: +73
Points: 432
Why the Panthers Deserve to Win: The Panthers have dominated the Great Midwest Athletic Conference with only three conference losses and also boast a win over Great Lakes Valley Conference contender BR-44 Southern Indiana heading into a four game series this weekend at BR-116 Trevecca Nazarene for first place in the G-MAC.
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Lee Flames
Region: South
Conference: Gulf South Conference
Overall Record: 30-16
April Record: 13-3
April 4 BennettRank: 61
April 25 BennettRank: 31
Change: +32
Points: 487
Why the Flames Deserve to Win: Picked to finish outside the six-team postseason field at the start of the season, the Flames went on a 13-3 run in April to clinch the sixth and final berth in the GSC tournament, which begins this weekend in Pensacola, Fla.
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St. Edward’s Hilltoppers
Region: South Central
Conference: Heartland
Overall Record: 37-10
April Record: 14-3
April 4 BennettRank: 41
April 25 BennettRank: 19
Change: +33
Points: 480
Why the Hilltoppers Deserve to Win: Winners of six in a row overall and 12 in a row in Heartland Conference play, the Hilltoppers could be the team that nobody wants to face in the postseason, either in the conference tourney or in the South Central Regionals.
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Belmont Abbey Crusaders
Region: Southeast
Conference: Conference Carolinas
Overall Record: 36-13-1
April Record: 11-5
April 4 BennettRank: 66
April 25 BennettRank: 45
Change: +21
Points: 451
Why the Crusaders Deserve to Win: Despite falling in the consolation bracket finals of the Conference Carolinas tournament, the Crusaders made a dramatic run to reach the postseason, going 11-5 during the month and showing one of the better BennettRank improvements among Southeast Region teams.
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Cal State East Bay Pioneers
Region: West
Conference: California Collegiate Athletic Association
Overall Record: 28-15
April Record: 12-4
April 4 BennettRank: 79
April 25 BennettRank: 46
Change: +33
Points: 473
Why the Pioneers Deserve to Win: The Pioneers look to be peaking at the right time, having won seven of their last eight games, including a three-game series sweep at BR-57 California-San Diego this past weekend.
Which squad was the D2 Baseball Team of the Month?
