WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team was ranked 27th in the 2023 Collegiate Baseball Preseason Division III Top 40 poll, which was recently released by the organization.

W&J received 214 points in the preseason poll, which had Salisbury, LaGrange, Trinity (Texas), Birmingham-Southern and Chapman slotted in the top five spots.

The Presidents finished the 2022 campaign with a 37-10 overall record. The 37 wins are tied with the 2021 team for the third most in a single-season in program history. Only the D-III College World Series teams from 2017 and 2019 had more wins in a season. With a 10-2 victory over Westminster College on May 14, W&J captured its 14th Presidents' Athletic Conference title and punched its ticket to the NCAA Division III Tournament for a ninth time. The Presidents finished with a 25-2 record in conference play and won 23 of 26 games at Ross Memorial Park. 

The Presidents will bring back an experience squad in 2023, as the Red and Black welcome back six position players who made at least 20 starts last spring. W&J returns two of its top four starting pitchers from the 2022 squad that finished with a 3.69 staff earned-run average. In the bullpen, W&J will have a multitude of arms returning as that group looks to remain formidable. 

Highlighting the key returners for W&J are senior pitcher/outfielder Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford), senior outfielder Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) and sophomore Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel). 

Horvat continued his stellar collegiate career by earning All-America honors from D3baseball.com a season ago. Horvat produced another exceptional season as one of the top two-way players in NCAA Division III Baseball. Offensively, he ranked first in on-base percentage (.494) and in batting average (.445) among Presidents' Athletic Conference players. He scored 38 runs and tallied 30 RBI out of his leadoff spot. Despite missing 10 games, his 65 hits ranked second best among conference players. Horvat was also a threat on the base paths, stealing 21 bases in 25 attempts. He finished with 22 multi-hit games, which included a four-hit effort at Franciscan. Horvat had eight consecutive games, which included six postseason games, with multiple hits from May 7 through May 21. Horvat enters the 2023 campaign with a career 2.00 earned-run average and a spectacular 18-1 record on the mound. As a position player, Horvat has compiled a .404 batting average with 107 hits, 34 extra base hits and 32 stolen bases in 81 career games.

Sante was one of the PAC's top power threats in 2022. He led the conference in home runs (10) and RBIs (48). He ranked second in slugging percentage (.650), tied for third in total bases (89) and was ninth in batting average (.350) among PAC players. Sante was a two-time PAC Hitter of the Week in 2022. He homered against regionally-ranked opponents, Mount Union, Benedictine and Marietta. He was recognized as an All-Region performer by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). 

DiMatteo made an immediate impact last season at the backend of W&J's bullpen. He earned All-Region honors from both D3baseball.com and the ABCA. DiMatteo led the PAC and ranked sixth in NCAA Division III with 10 saves as a freshman. He registered 38 strikeouts in 30.1 innings pitched. He limited the opposition to a .175 batting average. He recorded impressive two-inning saves against regionally-ranked foes Mount Union, Benedictine and Wooster.

W&J will look to replace several key losses to graduation, which included Henry Litman, Jameson Campbell, Nate Rush, Jason Gregovits and 2022 PAC Player of the Year Peter Kalinski. Litman (St. Louis University) and Campbell (The Ohio State University) will continue their baseball careers at the Division I level this upcoming season. 

Jeff Mountain, who enters his 21st season leading the program, was recognized as PAC Coach of the Year for a 10th time last spring following W&J's conference championship run. Mountain has compiled a 572-279-2 record during his tenure with the Presidents. 

W&J will play a 40-game regular season slate with half of those games coming against conference competition. As is the case every spring, W&J will face a challenging non-conference schedule. 

The Presidents have non-conference games scheduled with No. 8 Marietta, No. 9 Baldwin Wallace, No. 15 Oswego State, #22 Wooster and No. 26 Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Johns Hopkins and Colby are both among those "Also Receiving Votes" in the preseason poll. 

Marietta, Baldwin Wallace and Wisconsin-Stevens Point were among the last eight teams standing last season as each advanced out of Super Regional play to the 2022 Division III College World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

W&J is tentatively scheduled to open the 2023 campaign against Muskingum University on Saturday, Feb. 18 at Ross Memorial Park.