Gulls baseball earns top ranking in preseason poll

SALISBURY, Md. (SU Athletics) – The Salisbury University baseball team will enter 2023 as the nation’s consensus No. 1 team for the second straight year, capturing the pole position in Wednesday’s D3baseball.com/NCBWA Preseason Top 25 rankings.

The Sea Gulls received 606 points in the annual preseason tally, including 15 of a possible 25 first-place votes. Defending national champion Eastern Connecticut State slotted in a distant second with 561 points and eight first-place votes. Third-ranked LaGrange (541) and fourth-ranked Birmingham-Southern (535) each received one first-place vote, while Trinity (Texas) [501] rounded out the top five.

This is the second preseason poll Salisbury finds itself leading entering the 2023 campaign after taking the No. 1 ranking from Collegiate Baseball last month. SU has been atop of both organizations’ preseason tallies for two straight seasons.

The Sea Gulls bring back 26 players from their 2022 squad that went 39-12 and advanced to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship finals for the second year in a row. Nearly 20 of those players also contributed heavily on Salisbury’s run to the 2021 national championship, including starting pitchers Jimmy Adkins and Jackson Balzan, outfielders Kavi Caster, and Cameron Hyder, and shortstop Stephen Rice.

Salisbury will begin its 2023 slate on Friday, Feb. 17, against 14th-ranked Cortland State at Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium at 2 p.m. The matchup is one of five games on the books against teams ranked in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Preseason Top 25, including a second matchup with Cortland State on Feb. 19 and bouts at No. 21 Shenandoah (Mar. 13), at home against No. 11 Rowan (Mar. 29) and at No. 20 Catholic (Apr. 19). SU will also play five contests against other teams who received preseason votes.

The first regular season D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 will be unveiled on Tuesday, Feb. 28, assuring SU of at least six games as the No. 1 team to open the season.