Baseball Fifth in Preseason Poll
Marywood University has been tabbed 5th in the CSAC pre-seaon baseball poll

Baseball Fifth in Preseason Poll

Baseball - 2/21/2012 9:08:00 AM

Aston, PA - The Keystone College Giants have been selected as pre-season favorite to capture the 2012 Colonial States Athletic Conference baseball championship. The Giants picked up six of a possible seven first-place votes, garnering a total of 47 points, to top the poll. Marywood University finished fifth in the voting.
 
The Giants, coached by Jamie Shevchik, have won three straight CSAC championships, and are coming off of a 2011 campaign in which they finished 38-12 overall, capturing the NCAA New York Regional and advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Division-III World Series. Keystone enters the 2012 season ranked 16th in the d3baseball.com preseason poll, and second baseman Esteban Melitiche, the 2011 CSAC Player of the Year, has been tabbed a First Team All-American by d3baseball.com, after batting .423 with 11 home runs, 46 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases a season ago. The Keystone pitching staff looks to be led by Rob Rogers, who went 6-2 with a 2.45 ERA and 62 strikeouts and 62 innings last season.
 
“We are honored that our peers have picked us as favorites in the conference,” Shevchik said. “We have lost some key components from last year's squad, but we had a great recruiting class and have added plenty of quality players capable of being key contributors. We also return the depth of our pitching staff that was such an impact last season.”
 
Neumann University was picked to finish second in the CSAC, receiving 39 points, and one first-place vote. The Knights, under coach John Fleming, went 28-13 last season, including an 11-7 mark in conference play, qualifying for the ECAC postseason. Neumann, which received votes in this year's preseason d3baseball.com poll, return all but one starter from last year, a season in which its pitching staff, led by First Team All-CSAC selection Russ Gilliam (9-2, 1.94 ERA, 84Ks, 70 IP), led all of NCAA Division-III in strikeouts per nine innings (9.0).
 
Gwynedd-Mercy College was tabbed third in the preseason poll with 36 points. Under coach Paul Murphy, the Griffins went 18-16-1 overall last year, and finished second in the CSAC with a12-6 conference record, reaching the championship game of the CSAC Tournament before falling to Keystone. The Griffins look to be led by a pair of pitchers, as senior Andrew Sinon (3-3, 3.75 ERA, 33 K's, 38 IP) was a Second Team All-CSAC selection and sophomore hurler Andrew Schaefer earned 2011 CSAC Rookie of the Year honors after going 4-1 with a 1.60 ERA in 39.1 innings.
 
Immaculata University was tabbed to finish fourth, with 29 points, while Marywood University (20), Centenary College (18), and Philadelphia Biblical (7) rounded out the voting.
 
The 2012 CSAC schedule officially begins on March 16th, when Immaculata plays host to Centenary and Marywood hosts Philadelphia Biblical. The CSAC season will wrap up with the three-day conference tournament, slated from Fri. May 4th-Sun. May 5th, at Bear Stadium in Boyertown, PA.
 
Marywood opens their season this Sunday with a trip to Polytechnic Institute of New York University before heading to Fort Pierce, Florida for a eight game spring-break trip featuring four doubleheaders. 
 
2012 CSAC BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL
1. Keystone College – 47 (6)
2. Neumann University – 39 (1)
3. Gwynedd-Mercy College – 36
4. Immaculata University – 29
5. Marywood University – 20
6. Centenary College – 18
7. Philadelphia Biblical University - 7
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