MILWAUKEE – Marian University baseball received 232 points to finish the NACC preseason poll in fourth place, as voted on by the sports information directors and head coaches of the league.
Aurora, which held off Benedictine University for both the South Division regular-season and tournament titles en route to the overall tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship last season, accumulated 336 points on the strength of 24 first-place votes. The Eagles took the runner-up spot in the poll with 312 points and the two remaining first-place tallies.
Concordia University Wisconsin is third with 263 points, while Marian University placed fourth with 232 points. Milwaukee School of Engineering (215) is fifth, followed by Illinois Institute of Technology (207), St. Norbert College (188), and Concordia University Chicago (156).
Lakeland University (128), Rockford University (113), Edgewood College (80), Dominican University (74), and Wisconsin Lutheran College (62) round out the poll.
The Sabres went 20-23 last season and claimed a NACC North Championship after holding a 14-6 ledger in conference games. Marian had five all-conference selections with three of those honorees returning this year. Head coach Jordan Baitinger was also named the NACC Coach of the Year for the second time.
Marian opens their season at the RussMatt Invitational with their final schedule to yet be finalized.
