Tuesday, January 22, 2013
by Dane Neumeister

The 2013 HCAC Baseball Coaches' Preseason Poll has been released and the Manchester University Spartans have been chosen to claim the top spot in the conference standings this spring. Manchester received seven, first-place votes to claim the first spot, followed by Franklin and Rose-Hulman, who each received one, first-place vote. Anderson came in fourth, and received a first-place vote, while Hanover rounds out the top five. Transylvania, Bluffton, Earlham, the Mount and Defiance round out the coaches poll. Manchester has won the past three HCAC Tournament titles.

The 2013 baseball season opens on February 22. The HCAC portion of the schedule will begin on March 22 with the HCAC Tournament slated for May 9-11.

Selected as "HCAC Players to Watch" in 2013 were Mount players: Drew Ernst – P (Sr., Cincinnati, OH/Elder), Justin Shelton – 3B (Sr., Cincinnati, OH/Anderson), Collin Shaw – P (Jr., West Chester, OH/Lakota West), and Brandon Polking – P (So., Cincinnati, OH/ St. Xavier)