Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
Perfect Game Preseason Top-25 Poll
Feb. 2, 2021 – The North Central College baseball team will begin the 2021 season ranked sixth nationally in the Perfect Game Preseason Top-25 Poll, released by the organization on Monday, while a pair of Cardinals were named to the top-10 prospect list.
North Central was off to a 7-0 start last season and ranked fouth in the country in batting average before the season was shut down due to COVID-19, finishing the season ranked third in the Perfect Game Top-25 Poll, the highest ranking in program history.
Webster University (Missouri) was selected the preseason No. 1 team in the nation, followed by the University of Southern Maine and Randolph-Macon College (Virginia). The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was selected fourth and California Lutheran University rounds out the top-five.
Additionally, catcher
Rob Marinec and pitcher
Charlie Klemm were eached named to the top-10 prospect list, with Marinec ranked sixth and Klemm 10th.
Marinec is a career .342 hitter and ranks in the program's career top-10 in multiple categories, including fifth in homeruns (19) and eighth in runs batted in (119). The reigning D3baseball.com Central Region and College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Player of the Year is also set to play in the newly-formed Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft League, featuring the top draft-eligible players in the country across all NCAA Divisions.
Klemm is holds a 16-2 career record, including an unblemished 9-0 record in 2019 to earn CCIW Pitcher of the Year honors. Klemm's 16 wins are tied for sixth all-time, while his 140 strikeouts rank ninth. Klemm will also be joining Marinec in the MLB Draft League at the conclusion of the 2021 season.
North Central enters the season as five-time defending College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Champion, while qualifying for the NCAA Division III Postseason each of the last four seasons.
The complete 2021 schedule is available
HERE.
