Salem, Va. – Baseball America has ranked the Roanoke College Baseball team No. 7 in the nation in its 2018 Division III Preview.
It marks the fourth preseason national ranking for the Maroons. The No. 7 ranking is the highest of those four and the highest preseason ranking in program history. The Maroons were tabbed 10th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll, 14th in the Perfect Game Poll and 17th in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Preseason Top 25.
The Maroons who open the season Friday at home with a doubleheader against Rutgers-Newark (2:00 p.m. start), returns its core nucleus from a 2017 team that helped RC capture its first Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) and NCAA South Regional Championships.
Back in the mix for head coach Matt McGuire is ABCA Second-Team All-Region outfielder senior Sean Guida. Last season Guida hit .339. His 79 hits were the most in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, while his 58 runs scored was also most in the league and his 10 triples were second in the league and third most in Division III.
Joining Guida in the outfield will be junior Scott Ellis who led the team in hitting last season with a .344 average. Ellis was also named to the ODAC, NCAA South Regional, and NCAA World Series All-Tournament Teams. Ellis was the only player in the country to be named to their conference, regional and the CWS teams last season.
