College Baseball News – Guilford Picked Ninth in ODAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll

FOREST, Va. –Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) baseball coaches picked Guilford College ninth in their annual preseason poll released Thursday. The Quakers earned 31 points in the 11-team ranking. Shenandoah University, the defending ODAC Tournament runner up, collected nine first-place votes and tops the poll with 98 points. Randolph-Macon College placed second, followed by defending league champion Bridgewater College.

Guilford head coach Nick Black ’02 returns five starters (3 fielders, 2 pitchers) among 24 letter winners from last year’s 19-20 (9-11 ODAC) team. Senior outfielder Herc Ingels is coming off a career year in which he hit .333 with seven doubles and 16 runs batted in (RBI). He is the Quakers’ top returning hitter, just ahead of junior catcher Nathan Fulbright, a 2013 Third Team All-ODAC selection. Fulbright batted .313 in 2014 with seven doubles and 20 RBI.

Senior right-hander Drew Crawford is the Quakers’ top returning starting pitcher. He went 3-4 in 2014 with a 5.51 earned run average (ERA) and 21 strikeouts in 49 innings. Classmates Justin Morrison (3-1, 5.73 ERA, 3 saves, 13 appearances) and Avery Rogers (1-2, 2.70 ERA, 2 saves, 12 appearances) were top relievers a year ago who return this spring.

The Quakers begin the 2015 campaign, the 126th recorded baseball season at Guilford, with nonconference games Friday (2/6) and Saturday (2/7) at Berry College. Guilford opens its home schedule Feb. 10 versus Averett University and starts ODAC play Feb. 28 against visiting Randolph-Macon.

2015 ODAC BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL (#) denotes first-place votes
1. Shenandoah (9) 98
2. Randolph-Macon 85
3. Bridgewater (2) 82
T4. Lynchburg 70
T4. Hampden-Sydney 70
6. Roanoke 54
7. Washington and Lee 43
8. Virginia Wesleyan 37
9. Guilford 31
10. Eastern Mennonite 22
11.Emory & Henry 13