SALISBURY, Md. – For the second straight year, the Salisbury University baseball team will open the season as the No. 1 team in NCAA Division III, claiming the top spot in Wednesday's Collegiate Baseball preseason poll.
 
The Sea Gulls garnered 298 points to nab the poll position, edging out second-place LaGrange (283) and third-place Trinity (Texas) [282]. Birmingham-Southern (280) and Chapman (276) rounded out the top five.
 
Salisbury went 39-12 during the 2022 campaign and made it to the final round of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship for the second consecutive year. The Sea Gulls bested Denison at the Granville Regional and Wooster at the Salisbury Super Regional en route to their seventh College World Series berth, defeating Wisconsin-Stevens Point twice and Marietta to reach the championship series.
 
The Sea Gulls will return nearly 20 players who contributed to their runner-up season in 2022 and national championship run in 2021. Headliners in the rotation include reigning D3baseball.com National Pitcher of the Year Jimmy Adkins and 2021 College World Series Most Outstanding Player Jackson Balzan. The everyday lineup will feature consensus All-American outfielder Kavi Caster, Gold Glove-winning shortstop Stephen Rice and 2022 NCAA All-Tournament Team outfielder Cameron Hyder.
 
Salisbury will open the 2023 campaign on Friday, Feb. 17, at home against 19th-ranked Cortland State and will battle the Red Dragons a second time on Feb. 19. The matchups will be a pair of 10 games the Sea Gulls will play against teams ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Top 40, including showdowns with No. 14 Catholic, No. 24 Shenandoah, No. 30 Christopher Newport, No. 34 Penn State Harrisburg and No. 35 Immaculata.
 

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Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football, Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse and the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Conference for men's and women's swimming. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, and dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on-and-off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 22 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 188 conference championships and 43 Academic All-Americans.

To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or on social media @SUSeaGulls.