It’s once again time for Balladeer’s Blog’s annual ritual of listing NAIA college baseball players taken in the MLB draft.
OKLAHOMA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY BISON
Taylor Hearn to the Washington Nationals ### Kelvin Rivas to the Miami Marlins ### Keach Ballard to the Houston Astros ###
Filed under College Baseball
With college football kicking off on August 23rd in the divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog the time seemed right to present a look at the coolest football helmets in NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) football. Feel free to let me know whose helmets you feel I left out or who should have been rated higher or lower.
11. DORDT COLLEGE DEFENDERS
Location: Sioux Center, IA
Comment: The NAIA has the Defenders, the NJCAA has the Avengers and Canadian college football boasts the X-Men! Marvel Comics fans have absolutely no excuse not to get into college football.
10. OKLAHOMA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY BISON
Location: Shawnee, OK
Comment: Now here’s a helmet that’s as grand and glorious as the mighty beast the team is named for! OBU is known for getting things done with its sports programs so even though they’re still a little new to gridiron action look for them to make noise sooner rather than later.
9. BETHANY COLLEGE SWEDES
Location: Lindsborg, KS
Comment: Like the Florida Gators the Bethany Swedes have one of those iconic helmets with stylish lettering and an overall eye-catching appeal. This helmet looks even better topping the Swedes’ blue jerseys and gold pants. Continue reading
Filed under Cool Helmets
Lawrenceville Bracket – 1. GEORGIA GWINNETT COLLEGE GRIZZLIES ### 2. SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE ### 3. WILLIAM WOODS UNIVERSITY OWLS ### 4. WESTMONT COLLEGE WARRIORS ### 5. SAINT FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS ###
Daytona Beach Bracket – 1. SOUTHERN POLYTECHNIC RUNNING HORNETS ### 2. EMBRY- RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY EAGLES ### 3. TALLADEGA COLLEGE TORNADOES ### 4. TENNESSEE WESLEYAN COLLEGE BULLDOGS ### 5. LSU- ALEXANDRIA GENERALS ### Continue reading
Filed under College Baseball
Last night’s NAIA Division Two National Championship Game saw the top 2 seeds in the tournament battling each other for the title. The top seeded WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN and the 2nd seeds, the CARDINAL STRITCH UNIVERSITY WOLVES, were the two teams left standing after all the hardcourt drama that had unfolded since the tournament started last Wednesday.
The Wolves shot 50% from the field enroute to a 73-59 victory over the Statesmen, giving Cardinal Stritch University its first ever NAIA national championship in basketball. The game was a very tight 39-36 at the break in favor of the Wolves but the 2nd half saw Stritch getting some separation and winding up wearing the 2013 crown. WPU outrebounded CSU 35-33 but were outdone by the Wolves in every other statistical category. Stritch also got to the line 25 times, making 20 from the charity stripe compared to William Penn, whose Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY BEACONS
Location: Eugene, OR
Division: NAIA
Conference Affiliation: Cascade Collegiate Conference
Comment: How cool is the nickname Beacons? From the Pacific northwest comes this excellent institution of higher learning founded in 1895 by Eugene C Sanderson. As usual with NAIA schools NCU has Continue reading
Filed under Cool names and cool logos
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Division One – 1. COLUMBIA (MO) COUGARS ### 2. LEE UNIVERSITY FLAMES ### 3. LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS ### 4. PIKEVILLE UNIVERSITY BEARS ### 5. XAVIER (LA) GOLD RUSH ### 6. JOHN BROWN UNIVERSITY GOLDEN EAGLES ### 7. LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE BLUE RAIDERS ### 8. OKLAHOMA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY BISON ### 9. EMMANUEL LIONS ### 10. HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ROYALS ### 11. MONTANA STATE- NORTHERN LIGHTS ### 12. ROGERS STATE UNIVERSITY HILLCATS Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
MONTANA STATE-NORTHERN LIGHTS
Location: Havre, MT
Division: NAIA
Conference Affiliation: Frontier Conference
Comment: MSU-Northern cleverly decided to call their sports teams the Lights because of the “Northern” at the end of their university’s name. An unfortunate side effect is that people often mistakenly think their teams are called the “Northern Lights” and that they Continue reading
Filed under Cool Helmets
CHAPARRALS RULE THE WORLD – Readers familiar with Balladeer’s Blog’s college football coverage are well aware of the tendency of NAIA teams to upset teams from NCAA Division 2. That tendency extends to basketball season at times, too. Yesterday the LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY CHAPARRALS (logo above) took it on the road and upset D2’s NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS UNIVERSITY COWBOYS in a 90-88 game that Chaps fans will be talking about for years to come.
CENTURY CLUB – Among the teams scoring 100 or more points yesterday: The INDIANA UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST GRENADIERS improved to 11-3 with a 108-75 road thrashing of the POINT PARK PIONEERS. The Grenadiers (love that name) led 59-34 at halftime and glided through the 2nd half to remain unbeaten in conference play. ### The LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE BLUE RAIDERS clipped the wings of the HAMILTON HARRIERS by a score of 100-69 ### The UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS PATRIOTS held serve by taking down the TENNESSEE WESLEYAN BULLDOGS 100-83 ### In the Chuck Daly Tournament the NORTHWOOD (FL) UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS slammed the VALOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGE WARRIORS by a score of 106-73 ### The OLD WESTBURY PANTHERS topped the MISERICORDIA COUGARS in a 100-97 catfight ### … And the GREENSBURG BOBCATS devoured the WRIGHT STATE LAKERS in a Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
The votes are all in for the 3rd edition of Balladeer’s Bowl in which my readers get to vote on who would win if the NAIA college football champs played the NCAA Division 3 football champs. D3 needed a Joe Namath moment for this 3rd go-round but none materialized as the NAIA champs made it 3 Balladeer’s Bowl victories in a row.
The MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS came in as the NAIA title holders with the storied MOUNT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS carrying the banner of D3 football. 263 voters felt the Knights would defeat the Purple Raiders with just 212 voting for Mt Union. D3 can take solace from the fact that this was the most votes their team has gotten thus far in this hypothetical matchup.
Here’s a look at the winners and losers of all 3 Balladeer’s Bowl games:
Balladeer’s Bowl 3: MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS defeated the Mount Union Purple Raiders
Balladeer’s Bowl 2: Continue reading
Filed under college football
BACONE COLLEGE WARRIORS
Location: Muskogee, OK
Division: NAIA
Conference Affiliation: Central States
Comment: Even if you’re not an Okee from Muskogee you’ve got to love these thoroughly intimidating helmets! Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with the tendency of the Bacone Warriors to Continue reading
Filed under Cool Helmets
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