HICKORY, N.C. -- For the first time since February 2017, the Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball Team has earned a national ranking. The Bears slot in at No. 24 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll. This is the first appearance in the NCBWA poll -- the most widely used national poll -- since 2015 for the Bears who were ranked No. 20 in the D2 Baseball News poll in 2017. 

The Bears are off to their best start since 1962 with a 13-1 mark after 14 games. The Bears are on a 10-game winning streak -- the sixth-longest current winning streak in the nation -- and came into the week fourth in the nation in runs and fifth in home runs. The Bears lead all of Division II in hits and are fifth on the mound in strikeouts per nine innings as a team. 

Aces Joshua Lanham and Andrew Patrick are each a perfect 3-0 in three starts. Patrick's ERA sits at 0.95 and Lanham's ERA is 1.42. The hot hitting of Wade Cuda has been a key reason for the LR success as the CF is hitting .511 through his first 12 games with eight home runs, 18 RBI and a 1.128 slugging percentage. 

LR will put the 10-game winning streak on the line when Georgia Southwestern comes to Hickory for a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m. With three wins, LR could close out a 13-game home stand a perfect 13-0.