The final regular season polls of the 2024 season were released this week as the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament gets underway this weekend. The Aurora University Spartan baseball team is ranked in both the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Division III Coaches and D3baseball.com Top 25 poll.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, the polls do not play a factor in the tournament field as the NCAA Division III baseball selection committee snubbed the Spartans despite a 34-11 overall record on the season.

The Spartans are ranked 17th in the ABCA and 18th in the D3baseball.com Top 25 polls. AU finished second in the Northern Athletics Colleiate Conference regular season and were runner-up in the NACC Tournament, forcing the if-necessary game on the road at tournament host Benedictine.

At the end of the regular season, AU is ranked among the best teams in Division III in 15 of the major statistical categories including tied for seventh with the most wins in the Division at 34 and having the 14th best win percentage (.756). The Spartans are fourth in doubles (112), eighth in hits (509), 11th in doubles per game (2.49) 12th in strikeout to walk ratio (2.62), 13th in batting average (.333), 14th in slugging (.507), 16th in runs scored (380), 20th in fielding percentage (.972), 24th in walks per nine (3.37), 25th in home runs (45), 38th in strikeouts per nine (8.8), 39th in home runs per game (1.00) and 43rd in on-base percentage (.423).

Individually numerous Spartans rank along the tops in major categories among Division III players. Freshman Joe Lukancic leads Division III in hits with 84 while being tied for 13th in batting average (.447), tied for 17th in doubles (18) and tied for 38th in runs scored (54). Senior Nico Bermeo is fifth in runs scored (64), eighth in doubles (20), 17th in runs per game (1.42) and 30th in doubles per game (.44). Junior Logan Riley is tied for 26th in runs batted in (55), senior Nik Panico is tied for 29th in home runs (12) and senior Sean Rivera is 32nd in walks drawn (36).

The Division III Baseball polls can be seen in the links below.
The 2024 ABCA Division III Coaches poll                   
The D3baseball.com poll