Baseball nabs preseason ranking

TUCSON, Ariz. – College Baseball magazine has picked the Thiel College Baseball team as the preseason No. 21 team in the country – a designation the Tomcats will hold until at least late February when they open their season at the RussMat Central Florida Invitational.

Thiel is the only Presidents' Athletic Conference team to be recognized in the poll, as well as the lone Pennsylvania representative. This is Thiel's first-ever preseason ranking.

"The pre-season ranking is a very nice recognition for our program, but it is more of a reflection on the success our team had last year,” said tenth-year head coach Joe Schaly. “Our players understand that where you start the season is not what is important, and they are working hard to meet the challenge of a new season.”

The Tomcats, who were 29-15 a season ago, return nine starters and 17 letterwinners from an offense that led Division III in runs (11) and doubles (3.14) per game as well as in slugging percentage. Thiel also returns a pair of first-team all-America selections in Chris Dunham (Conneaut Lake,Pa./Linesville) and Eric Boylan (McKees Rocks,Pa./Sto Rox), in addition to David Nypaver (Williamsfield, Ohio/Howland) and Dan Morrison (Cortland, Ohio/Maplewood) who were named ESPN the Magazine Academic All-Americans last season.

Boylan led the country in doubles in 2008 with 25, and ranked in the top-10 in four other offensive categories. Dunham ranked eighth nationally in home runs with 15, and tied Boylan for tenth in RBIs with 63.

In addition to its explosive offense, Thiel also returns the third-winningest pitcher in D-III a season ago in Josh Tedesco (Campbell, Ohio/Ursuline). Tesdesco went 11-3 last season while compiling an ERA of 2.92. As a staff, Thiel paced the PAC with an ERA of 5.38.

Based in Tucson, Arizona, College Baseball Newspaper is a national publication covering all divisions of collegiate baseball.

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