A 6-1 start to the 2016 season is enough to keep the University of West Alabama baseball team at No. 8 in this week's Collegiate Baseball Division 2 National Poll, but the National Collegiate Baseball Writers elevated the Tigers to No. 7.
 
The National College Baseball Writers Association also has the Tigers as the No. 2 team in the South Region behind defending national champion Tampa (8-1), who holds down the top spot in both the Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA national polls.
 
After losing its season opener, 2-1, at Palm Beach Atlantic the Tigers have reeled off six consecutive victories with Stillman (1-7) visiting Tartt Field on the UWA campus Wednesday at 2 p.m. West Alabama opens Gulf South Conference play with a three-game series at Delta State (4-3) beginning Saturday.
 
West Georgia (6-0) is the only other GSC team ranked in the top 30 at No. 14 in Collegiate Baseball and 15^th by NCBWA.
 
Led by right fielder Jake Bush at .429, West Alabama has six everyday players batting  .333 or better. Left fielder Adam Chamblee is the current GSC player of the week after hitting three home runs last week. He is hitting .381.
 
Paced by three starters with earned run averages 1.64 or lower, the West Alabama pitching staff has put together a combined earned run average of 1.48 and opponents are hitting just .189 against nine Tiger pitchers who have toed the rubber to this point.
 
To catch the live video and audio from Wednesday's game against Stillman go to http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uwa/. Live stats are available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/uwa/baseball/.