Wooster No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

Tim Pettorini

» Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

The College of Wooster received the No. 1 ranking from Collegiate Baseball in the newspaper’s annual NCAA Div. III preseason poll, it was announced recently (Dec. 23). Traditionally voted on by a panel of American Baseball Coaches’ Association members, this marks the second time in eight years that Wooster has received top billing to start the season.

“I think it’s great,” commented long-time head coach Tim Pettorini, who has guided the Fighting Scots to 10 North Coast Athletic Conference championships and a 761-294-6 record (.720) the last 24 years.  “It’s good for recruiting … (and) stuff like that. It’s good for our players. Hopefully, it should motivate them. If a team didn’t give us their best shot before, they’re certainly going to now.”

Wooster is expected to return 20 individuals who played on the 2005 team (39-9), which advanced to and placed third at the NCAA Div. III National Championship Series in Appleton, Wis. Of that group, six were starting position players, led by second-team All-American Pat Christensen (Cincinnati, Ohio / Sycamore), now a sophomore right fielder, and six were pitchers who saw at least 29.2 innings of work, including now-senior right-hander Jon Oliver (West Chester, Ohio / Lakota West), also a second-team All-American.

The Scots also graduated a couple of All-Americans in Luke Ullman and Jake Frank, both of whom played on the left side of the infield. In fact, Ullman was the 2005 Div. III National Player of the Year and Frank earned All-America recognition three times. Ten newcomers as well as several veterans will attempt to offset those losses.

“What we lost was pretty significant, but what we got back is pretty good, too,” Pettorini said. “We’ve got good pitching and we’ve added some pretty good kids, too.”

The last time Wooster entered a season No. 1 was 1998. The Scots won 40 games that year (40-6) and the NCAC title, but were unable to make a repeat trip to the National Championship Series, going 2-2 at the Mideast Regional.

Pettorini, though, isn’t concerned about any No. 1 ranking jinx.

“I’m more worried about our opponents than any bad karma. I don’t know if we’ll be the best team, but I know we’re going to be pretty good. I’d rather be No. 1 in June than now, but I’ll take it now.