Baseball tabbed seventh in PAC Preseason Poll

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 14) – The Bethany College baseball team was selected to finish seventh in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Preseason Coaches' Poll announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.

Thomas More, winners of last season's championship tournament, and Washington & Jefferson, the 2015 league champion, tied for the top spot in this year's poll. Thomas More earned four first-place votes, while W&J totaled five first-place nods in the voting. Thiel, Grove City and Waynesburg rounded out the top-five in the poll, while Saint Vincent, Bethany, Westminster and Geneva were slotted sixth thru ninth.

The Bison are coming off of a 9-29 season in 2016, including a 5-19 mark against PAC opponents, but return four of the team's top-five hitters from a season ago. Those four players, sophomores John Lee (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) and Neil Woods (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny), junior Ryan Nickerson (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach) and senior Zack Miller (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) were all named to the PAC Baseball "Players to Watch" list.

Lee is the team's top-returning hitter after batting .315 (35-for-111) with a team-high eight extra-base hits, while Miller, an All-PAC Second Team selection, led the Bison with 17 RBI to go along with a .288 batting average (36-for-125) from a season ago.

This year's 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.