TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) -- When the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) released the 2023 Preseason Baseball Coaches' Poll, along with its Players to Watch list Wednesday, Washington & Jefferson College and head coach Jeff Mountain earned nine first-place votes and 99 total points to secure the top spot in the preseason poll.

The annual preseason poll collects votes from each of the league's 11 head coaches.

Led by Mountain, who won his 10th PAC Coach of the Year award last spring and is in his 21st year as the head coach, W&J also enters the season No. 27 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll and ranked 28th in the D3Baseball.com Preseason rankings. 

Headlining the returning players for the Presidents is senior utility Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa. | Penn-Trafford), who was named to the D3baseball.com Preseason All-American Team in January, earning Third Team distinction. This comes after he was a First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American, D3Baseball.com Fifth Team All-American and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Second Team All-Region 7 in 2022.

At the plate, Horvat led the PAC in batting average (.445) and on-base percentage (.494), while adding 38 runs scored and 30 RBIs and was 21-of-25 in stolen base attempts. On the mound, he posted a 2.13 ERA and finished with an 8-1 record (10 appearances, 9 starts), including two complete games.

The Players to Watch list also includes two PAC award winners from last season. Grove City College fifth-year right-hander Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass. | Covenant Christian) was honored as the PAC Pitcher of the Year after he posted an 8-1 record with a 1.63 earned-run average and struck out 93 batters in 88.1 innings while limiting opposing hitters to a .181 average. Ostrowski led the conference in ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched and batting average against.

Grove City added a second award winner when utility player Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio | Olmsted Falls) claimed PAC Newcomer of the Year honors. Killbane made 38 starts for the Wolverines last season, hitting a team-high .362 with 12 doubles, one triple, three home runs, 30 RBIs and 37 runs scored. His on-base percentage (.468), runs scored and hits (51) all ranked sixth in the PAC.

Grove City, led by seventh-year head coach Matt Royer, placed second in the poll, totaling 88 points and one first-place vote. Allegheny College and sixth-year head coach Brandon Crum were third in the rankings with 83 points and the final first-place vote. The Gators return to the PAC for their first season after posting a 24-15 overall record and a 9-9 mark in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) last year.

Last year's PAC Tournament runner-up Westminster College placed fourth with 69 points, just ahead of Saint Vincent College, who totaled 68 to come in fifth. Thiel College was sixth with 49 points, followed by Bethany College in seventh (39), Waynesburg University in eighth (34), Chatham University (33) in ninth, Franciscan University (27) and Geneva College (16).

W&J completed the 2022 season with a 37-10 overall record, their second consecutive season with 37 victories, the third-most in a single season in program history, trailing only the Division III College World Series teams from 2017 and 2019. With a 10-2 triumph over Westminster in the PAC Tournament Championship game, W&J captured its 14th PAC title and punched its ticket to the Division III Championship for a ninth time. The Presidents would go 2-2 and reach the NCAA Regional Championship Round before falling to 10th-ranked Rowan (N.J.) University.

The 2023 PAC Championship Tournament is scheduled for Thursday-Saturday, May 11-13. The top seed coming out of the regular season will host the league's four-team, double-elimination tournament.

The PAC Championship Tournament winner will earn the conference’s automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. Selections for the Division III Championship are scheduled to be announced Monday, May 15 with regional preliminary round play slated for Thursday-Monday, May 18-22. Regional champions will compete in the Super Regionals, a best-of-three series, to determine the eight participants in this year’s Division III College World Series, scheduled for Friday-Wednesday, June 2-7. The Division III College World Series will be held at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
 

2023 PAC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll
School (first-place votes)	Points	2022 Records
1. W&J (9)	99	37-10, 25-2 PAC
2. Grove City (1)	88	28-14, 18-8 PAC
3. Allegheny (1)	83	24-15, 9-9 NCAC
4. Westminster	69	24-19, 17-10 PAC
5. Saint Vincent	62	24-14, 20-6 PAC
6. Thiel	49	16-22, 12-14 PAC
7. Bethany	39	16-23, 8-18 PAC
8. Waynesburg	34	14-25, 10-17 PAC
9. Chatham	33	13-25, 5-22 PAC
10. Franciscan	27	17-22, 9-17 PAC
11. Geneva	18	12-27, 8-18 PAC

2023 PAC Baseball Players to Watch

Allegheny
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Conor Deasy	Sr.	RHP	Pittsburgh, Pa. | Central Catholic
Bobby Kusinsky	Sr.	RHP	Irwin, Pa. | Penn-Trafford
Tyson Dawson	So.	OF	Houston, Texas | Manvel
Ryan Dougherty	Jr.	OF	Wexford, Pa. | North Allegheny
Jake Stotsky	Sr.	OF	Shaler, Pa. | Vincentian

 

Bethany
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Mark Lavezza	Sr.	P	Bridgeport, W.Va. | Bridgeport
Trey Mantle	Jr.	P	Groveport, Ohio | Groveport Madison
Zach Pressnell	Jr.	P	Pickerington, Ohio | Pickerington North
Alec Berg	Sr.	IF/P	Beaver, Pa. | Beaver
JT Hubert	So.	OF/P	Green, Ohio | Green

 

Chatham
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Nico Cuello	Grad.	OF	Miami, Fla. | Westyminster Christian
Frankie DeLuca	Jr.	OF	Neshannock, Pa. | Neshannock
Caleb Lehman	Grad.	C	Monroeville, Pa. | Gateway
Eric Paulin	Sr.	P	Browndale, Pa. | Forest City Regional
Drew Schreck	So.	P	Lodi, Ohio | Cloverleaf

 

Franciscan
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Brendan Burke	Sr.	OF/RHP	Pinckney, Mich. | Detroit Catholic Central
Jacob Watson	Jr.	RHP	Arlington, Texas | Nolan Catholic
Ryan Scavnicky	So.	SS	North Huntingdon, Pa. | Norwin

   

Geneva
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
David Toruno	Jr.	2B	Menifee, Calif. | Paloma Valley
Zack Sackett	So.	C	Bethel Park, Pa. | Bethel Park
Gabriel Morales	Sr.	CF	Homestead, Fla. | South Dade

 

Grove City
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Tate Ostrowski	5th	RHP	Essex, Mass. | Covenant Christian
C.J. Saylor	Sr.	C	Lancaster, Pa. | Hempfield
Mally Kilbane	So.	3B	Olmstead Ohio | Olmstead Falls
Nick Guidas	Jr.	LHP	Gibsonia, Pa. | Pine-Richland
Evan Umland	So.	RHP	Pasadena, Calif. | La Canada

 

Saint Vincent
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Jordan Sabol	Sr.	OF/LHP	Export, Pa. | Penn-Trafford
Billy Perroz	Jr.	1B	Vandergrift, Pa. | Kiski Area
Jeremy Kreuzwieser	Jr.	P/OF	Canfield, Ohio | Ursuline

 

Thiel
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Seth Johnson	Sr.	Util.	Magnolia, Ohio | Tuscawaras Valley
Nick Jacobs	Jr.	1B/3B	New Castle, Pa. | Union
Travis Harvey	Sr.	P	Boardman, Ohio | Boardman
Alec Katon	Jr.	P	Ashtabula, Ohio | Edgewood
Nick Guarnieri	Sr.	C/DH	Niles, Ohio | McKinley

 

W&J
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Tyler Horvat	Sr.	OF/P	Irwin, Pa. | Penn-Trafford
Evan Sante	Sr.	OF	Pitttsburgh, Pa. | Plum
Jacob LaDuca	So.	SS	Clarence, N.Y. | Canisius

 

Waynesburg
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Bryce Bedilion	So.	OF	Clarksville, Pa. | Jefferson-Morgan
Alec Engelmore	So.	Util.	Pittsburgh, Pa. | Shaler
Aidan Williams	So.	C	Shaler, Pa. | Shaler
Mike Bell	Jr.	IF	Herminie, Pa. | Yough
Gavin Pratt	Fr.	Util.	Carmichaels, Pa. | Carmichaels

 

Westminster
Name	Yr.	Pos.	Hometown | High School
Jake Vitale	So.	LHP	New Castle, Pa. | Union
Ryan Gibbons	So.	RHP	Ellwood City, Pa. | Lincoln
Seth Schrader	Grad.	OF	Fredonia, N.Y. | Fredonia
Logan Murgenovich	Jr.	IF	Aliquippa, Pa. | Central Valley
Brandon Cooper	Sr.	OF	Oakdale, Pa. | West Allegheny