Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

2020 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division III Top-40 Preseason Poll

Dec. 17, 2019 – After four-straight appearances in the NCAA Division III postseason, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper has selected the North Central College baseball team 19^th in its annual preseason poll released on Tuesday.

Winners of five-straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season titles and three-consecutive CCIW Tournament Championships, the Cardinals were selected 19^th in this year's preseason poll, receiving 233 points.

Defending national champions Chapman University (Calif.) are ranked atop the poll to begin the 2020 season receiving 286 points.  Webster University (Mo.) is ranked second with 282 points, followed by Heidelberg University (Ohio) in third with 280 points, Trinity University (Texas) with 277 points and Kean University (N.J.) rounds out the top-five with 274 points.

The Cardinals are the lone CCIW team featured in the top-40 poll, while North Central takes on 18^th-ranked Aurora University in a non-conference game on Mar. 24 as well as 27th-ranked Misericordia University (Pennsylvania) on their annual Spring Break trip to Port Charlotte, Florida.

North Central finished the 2019 season with a record of 34-13, falling just one win shy of the program record and begin the 2020 schedule on Friday, Feb. 21, taking on Blackburn College to begin a three-day round-robin at Itchy Jones Stadium on the campus of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.  The full 2020 schedule is available HERE.

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