Preseason Baseball Polls List Titans In Top 20
The UW-Oshkosh baseball team will begin the 2019 season ranked among the top 25 NCAA Division III programs in the country by a pair of national organizations.
UW-Oshkosh, which produced a 34-10 record last season, is ranked 13th in the preseason by Collegiate Baseball and 18th by D3baseball.com. The Titans, who set a program record for doubles en route to reaching a regional final last year, ended the 2018 season ranked 11th in the D3baseball.com poll and 12th in by Collegiate Baseball.
The College of Wooster (Ohio) is the top-ranked team in both polls after finishing with a 40-10 record a year ago.
Rounding out the top 10 teams in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll are UW-Whitewater (33-8) in second, Swarthmore College (Pa.) (38-11) in third, Trinity University (Texas) (33-9) in fourth, Misericordia University (Pa.) (37-15) in fifth, Texas Lutheran University (42-12) in sixth, Randolph-Macon College (Va.) (38-9-1) in seventh, Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) (40-15) in eighth, University of Massachusetts at Boston (37-10) in ninth and Rowan University (N.J.) (35-11) in 10th.
D3baseball.com's preseason top 10 also included second-ranked UW-Whitewater, third-ranked Texas Lutheran University, fourth-ranked Trinity University, fifth-ranked Randolph-Macon College, sixth-ranked Rowan University, seventh-ranked Swarthmore College, eighth-ranked State University of New York at Cortland (35-12), ninth-ranked University of Massachusetts at Boston and 10th-ranked Concordia University Chicago.
Reigning national champion University of Texas at Tyler (40-18) was not ranked in either preseason poll as the Patriots are transitioning to NCAA Division II membership. The Patriots claimed the title by defeating Texas Lutheran University in the best-of-three championship series in Appleton.
UW-Oshkosh is scheduled to play seven games this season against teams among the top 25 in the 2019 preseason polls. The Titans will take on Rhodes College (Tenn.) for three games on March 9-10 in Memphis, Tenn., and play a four-game series at second-ranked UW-Whitewater on April 6-7. Rhodes College is ranked 18th by Collegiate Baseball and 24th by D3baseball.com.
The Titans return five players to their starting lineup from last year's squad that earned a berth into the Division III Championship for the first time since 2008.
Sixth-year UW-Oshkosh head coach Kevin Tomasiewicz welcomes back senior All-American pitcher Colan Treml and a trio of other senior All-WIAC selections in outfielders Alex Koch and Zack Radde, and third baseman Dylan Ott.
Treml compiled a 10-0 record with a 2.85 earned run average as the Titans' ace last season while Koch hit .335 with a team-leading seven home runs and six triples, Radde batted .310 with three homers, and Ott hit .349 with 15 stolen bases.
Also returning to the Titans with starting lineup experience are seniors Jensen Hinton and Jonathan Selchow, and sophomore Hunter Staniske. Hinton hit .286 with a pair of homers a year ago. Selchow and Staniske batted .341 and .319, respectively, last season.
Seniors Chris Atwood and Ryan Wilkening and junior Alex Larson are expected to fortify the UW-Oshkosh pitching staff after each logged more than 10 innings pitched and made at least six appearances last season.
UW-Oshkosh opens the 2019 season at Birmingham-Southern College on March 1 in Birmingham, Ala.
2019 Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III Preseason Top 40
2019 D3baseball.com/NCBWA NCAA Division III Preseason Top 25