Preseason 2017 D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The defending Centennial Conference champion Haverford College Baseball team is receiving votes in the preseason 2017 D3Baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 Poll, the organization announced today. Haverford received 30 votes in the annual preseason prognostication. The D3baseball.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 Sports Information Directors and media members from across the national landscape, and is published weekly.

Last season, the Fords won the Centennial Conference Championship for the third time in five seasons after registering the second most wins in program history with 28. Haverford returns seven of its 10 players who started at least 20 games as part of an everyday lineup, including All-Centennial players Sam Partee, Ethan Lee-Tyson, Ben Furlong and Spencer Sohmer. John Masella returns from an All-Centennial season to anchor the bullpen.

Earlier this month, Haverford Junior pitcher Justin Herring was named to the 2017 D3Baseball.com Preseason All-American Team. Herring earned the honor after posting the best ERA in the Centennial Conference with a 1.58 mark in 2016. Herring's 67 strikeouts were good for fifth in the Centennial Conference and Herring sported a perfect 7-0 record.

SUNY Cortland is the preseason No. 1 team in the nation with 15 first place votes while Keystone, Emory, Trinity (Texas) and Wooster all received a first place tally. The Fords will face off with six teams receiving votes in the preseason poll including No. 8 St. John Fisher (Mar. 18), Widener (Mar. 22), No. 18 TCNJ (Mar. 30), Alvernia (Apr. 5), Washington College (Apr. 12 and 14) and Johns Hopkins (Apr. 15).

Haverford will open up the 2017 campaign on March 5 in Ft. Myers, Fla. as part of the Gene Gusic Collegiate Classic. The first home game at Kannerstein Field is slated for March 15 against DeSales.