TUCSON, Ariz. — The California Lutheran baseball team is ranked No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's 2018 NCAA Division III Pre-Season Poll. The ranking is the highest the Kingsmen have ever received in the pre-season poll.
Cal Lutheran is the reigning national champion and went 40-11 in 2017. Cortland State (N.Y.) received the No. 1 ranking and went 38-9 last year. The Kinsgmen were the only Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SCIAC) team ranked in the top 30. Chapman came in at No. 32.
The Kingsmen start the season with some stiff competition early on and will see where they stand in the poll. The Violet and Gold take on Linfield (Ore.) three times to start the year. Linfield is No. 34 in the poll. Next the Kingsmen will take on Texas-Dallas and Concordia, both of which are strong Texas schools. Texas Dallas is ranked No. 7 and Concordia is ranked No. 30.
More notable competition that the Kinsgmen will play this season are Centenary (No. 12), Ithaca (No. 21) and Chapman (No. 32). More opponents received votes are Redlands, Castleton and Rutgers-Newark all made the list.
Cal Lutheran opens the season Friday, Feb. 2, at home against Linfield at 2:30 p.m.
Release: Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division III Poll
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director