Defending Champion Lynchburg Tops ODAC Baseball Preseason Poll

FOREST, Va. --- ODAC baseball over the past decade has seen a considerable amount of success, winning 41 games on the national stage since 2013. Defending ODAC champion University of Lynchburg contributed to that win total last season as the Hornets lifted the league trophy for the first time since 2012. Lynchburg opens the 2022 season as the favorite to repeat as it tops the ODAC Baseball Preseason Poll with 98 points powered by eight first place votes.

Shenandoah University, runner-up last season and winner of the 2018 and 2019 conference crowns, sits second in the annual coach's survey with 93 markers and a trio of first place votes. Randolph-Macon College ranks third with 79 tallies, and Roanoke College is not far behind with 72 points in fourth position.

In the following sections, we take a quick look back at last season and get a feel for what to expect for the upcoming baseball campaign.

2021 ODAC TOURNAMENT | BRACKET

• The ODAC played in a new format due to the COVID-19 pandemic with teams playing three rounds of best-of-3 series hosted on member school campuses
• It was an all Hornets final with Lynchburg squaring off with Shenandoah
• Second-seeded Lynchburg swept (12-8, 12-5) #7 Washington and Lee in the quarterfinals, but needed all three games to best #6 Bridgewater (14-0, 5-8, 7-5) to earn an ODAC championship series berth
• Fourth-seeded Shenandoah needed three games to advance past #5 Hampden-Sydney in the quarterfinals (14-0, 3-4, 18-5), but then swept #8 Eastern Mennonite (12-1, 7-4) to join Lynchburg in the finals
• The two sets of Hornets milked every inning in going three games to determine the title; the top-six batters in SU's lineup went 13-for-29 (.448) with 11 runs scored and eight RBI in posting a 12-5 win in game one; Lynchburg returned the favor in game two, moving out to a 7-0 after 3.5 innings on the way to an 11-5 victory; game three went down to the wire with home-standing Lynchburg scoring three times in the ninth as pinch-hitter drove in Gavin Collins with a walk-off single to center for a 9-8 title-clinching win
• The win marked Lynchburg's ninth ODAC baseball title and first since 2012; the nine trophies are second-most in conference history behind the 14 earned by Bridgewater

2021 NCAA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT

• Despite the conference's success over the past several seasons, Lynchburg was the lone ODAC school to earn entry to the NCAA's 48-team reduced field
• The Hornets traveled to Truist Point in High Point, N.C., for regional; they go off to a strong start with a 4-1 win over LaGrange and a 6-3 triumph over Birmingham-Southern, but a 6-1 loss to Salisbury and an 11-2 loss to Birmingham-Southern eliminated Lynchburg from the double-elimination bracket

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING NATIONALLY ENTERING 2022

• D3baseball.com/NCBWA Preseason Top-25: Shenandoah represents the ODAC in the preseason top-25 poll published by D3baseball.com and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA); SU is slotted 22nd in the survey with 100 points; Lynchburg (71) and Randolph-Macon (3) each received votes towards the chart
• 2022 D3baseball.com Preseason All-Americans: SU second baseman and 2021 ODAC Player of the Year Colby Martin is the only ODAC player on any of three preseason All-America teams published by D3baseball.com; Martin earned a spot on the first team

RETURNING STATISTICAL LEADERS
The athletes listed below represent the top-three returning statistical leaders for each listed category from the 2021 spring season.
Batting Minimums: 2.5 plate appearances per game and played 75% of team games
Pitching Minimums: 1.0 innings pitcher per team game

• BATTING LEADERS
  • Batting Avg. | .482 - Colby Martin (SU); .465 - Chapin Bassi (W&L); .429 - Austin Bailey (GC)
  • On-Base Pct. | .544 - Colby Martin (SU); .524 - Chapin Bassi (W&L); .502 - Avery Neaves (LYN)
  • Slugging | .788 - Colby Martin (SU); .746 - Chapin Bassi (W&L); .713 - Jaylon Lee (EMU)
  • Runs | 64 - Avery Neaves (LYN); 60 - Colby Martin (SU); 57 - Garrett Jackson (LYN)/Frankie Ritter (SU)
  • Hits | 82- Colby Martin (SU); 72 - Avery Neaves (LYN); 68 - Frankie Ritter (SU)
  • Doubles | 18 - Avery Neaves (LYN); 16 - Carter Plunkett (RC); 14 - Colby Martin (SU)
  • Triples | 7 - Colby Martin (SU)/Avery Neaves (LYN); 5 - Frankie Ritter (SU)
  • Homers | 10 - Garrett Jackson (LYN)/Avery Neaves (LYN); 8 - Colby Martin (SU)/Frankie Ritter (SU)
  • RBI | 69 - Avery Neaves (LYN); 55 - Colby Martin (SU); 44 - Frankie Ritter (SU)
    • Avery Neaves 69 RBI is the ODAC single-season record
  • Walks | 38 - Avery Neaves (LYN); 29 - Garrett Jackson (LYN); 28 - PJ Alvanos (LYN)/Colby Martin (SU)
  • Stolen Bases | 25 - Colby Martin (SU)/Avery Neaves (LYN); 19 - Jeffrey Snider (BC)
• PITCHING LEADERS
  • ERA | 2.44 - Tad Dean (SU); 2.45 - Zack Potts (LYN); 2.81 - Brandon Pond (LYN)
  • Innings Pitched | 93.0 - Brandon Pond (LYN); 80.2 - Zack Potts (LYN); 77.1 - Tad Dean (SU)
  • Wins | 9 - Brandon Pond (LYN); 7 - Reilley Owen (SU)/Zack Potts (LYN)/Will Turner (RC)
  • Saves | 5 - Tucker Hrasky (BC); 4 - Grayson Thurman (LYN); 3 - Colby Martin (SU)
  • Complete Games | 3 - Tad Dean (SU); 2 - Robert Cook (VWU)/Zack Potts (LYN)
  • Strikeouts | 90 - Brandon Pond (LYN); 88 - Grayson Thurman (LYN); 73 - Zack Potts (LYN)
  • Strikeouts/9 Innings | 9.86 - Justin Woodall (HSC); 9.39 - Peyton McCann (W&L); 9.17 - Aiden Kuhle (RC)

RETURNING ALL-ODAC TALENT | 2021 ALL-ODAC BASEBALL AWARDS
The 2022 season features 24-of-39 All-ODAC honorees from the 2021 spring campaign, with eight players from each of the three award teams returning. Lynchburg leads the way with five All-ODAC standouts back in the Hill City led by ODAC Pitcher of the Year Brandon Pond and featuring ODAC Rookie of the Year Gavin Collins (3B) and ODAC Coach of the Year Lucas Jones. Shenandoah second baseman Colby Martin is back after earn ODAC Player of the Year laurels last year.

   PITCHERS/CATCHERS

• Robert Cook (VWU) -- All-ODAC Second Team (SP)
• Tad Dean (SU) -- All-ODAC Third Team (SP)
• Brandon Pond (LYN) -- All-ODAC First Team (SP) -- ODAC Pitcher of the Year
• Zack Potts (LYN) -- All-ODAC Second Team (SP)
• Matt Sinko (VWU) -- All-ODAC Third Team (C)
• Hayden Snelsire (RMC) -- All-ODAC Third Team (SP)
• Grayson Thurman (LYN) -- All-ODAC First Team (RP)
• Will Turner (RC) -- All-ODAC Second Team (RP)

   INFIELDERS

• Chapin Bassi (W&L) -- All-ODAC Second Team (2B)
• Pearce Bucher (SU) -- All-ODAC First Team (3B)
• Trey Karnes (HSC) -- All-ODAC Third Team (1B)
• Brett Lindsay (EMU) -- All-ODAC Second Team (SS)
• Ryan Long (LYN) -- All-ODAC Third Team (SS)
• Colby Martin (SU) -- All-ODAC First Team (2B) -- ODAC Player of the Year
• Frankie Ritter (SU) -- All-ODAC First Team (SS)
• Ozzie Torres (FC) -- All-ODAC Third Team (2B)

   OUTFIELDERS

• Jarrett Biesecker (BC) -- All-ODAC Second Team
• Ethan Iannuzzi (HSC) -- All-ODAC Second Team
• Jordan Jones (EMU) -- All-ODAC Third Team
• Jaylon Lee (EMU) -- All-ODAC First Team
• Max Lipscomb (HSC) -- All-ODAC Third Team
• Avery Neaves (LYN) -- All-ODAC First Team

   DESIGNATED HITTER/UTILITY

• Carter Plunkett (RC) -- All-ODAC First Team (DH)
• Zach Perkins (W&L) -- All-ODAC Second Team (UT)

ODAC HEAD COACHES
Some of the best coaches in the business lead ODAC teams in all sports. Below we take a look at the career records and tenures for the league's baseball coaches entering the 2022 campaign.

• Ben Spotts (BC) -- Overall: 142-168-1 (.458)/9 | at BC: 25-19 (.568)/2
  • 1x ODAC Coach of the Year (2015 while at EMU)
• Adam Posey (EMU) -- Overall: 20-23 (.465)/2 | at EMU: 20-23 (.465)/2
• Ryan Brittle (FC) -- Overall: 154-130 (.542)/8 | at FC: 154-130 (.542)/8
• Zach Booker (GC) -- First Season as a Collegiate Head Coach
• Jeff Kinne (HSC) -- Overall: 361-314-6 (.535)/18 | at H-SC: 361-314-6 (.535)/18
  • 3x ODAC Coach of the Year (2005, 07, 10)
• Lucas Jones (LYN) -- Overall: 136-93 (.594)/6 | at LYN: 82-65 (.558)/4
  • 2x ODAC Coach of the Year (2016 while at W&L; 2021)
• Ray Hedrick (RMC) -- Overall: 399-249-6 (.615)/17 | at R-MC: 399-249-6 (.615)/17
  • 3x ODAC Coach of the Year (2008, 18-19)
• Zach Ullrich (RC) -- Overall: 23-10 (.697)/1 | at RC: 23-10 (.697)/1
• Kevin Anderson (SU) -- Overall: 684-314-2 (.685)/22 | at SU: 537-227-1 (.703)/18
  • 2x ODAC Coach of the Year (2014, 17)
• Chris Francis (VWU) -- Overall: 162-208-1 (.438)/10 | at VWU: 123-113-1 (.521)/7
• Ted White (W&L) -- Overall: 48-62 (.436)/4 | at W&L: 48-62 (.436)/4

THE SCHEDULE AND TOURNAMENT

• The ODAC returns to a more familiar tournament format with two separate weekends of action
• The eight-team field play in four best-of-3 series at the #1-4 seeds on the weekend of May 6-8
• The four advancing teams (reseeded as necessary) will then travel to Truist Point in High Point, N.C., for double-elimination competition for the ODAC title the weekend of May 13-15
• The NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Monday, May 16

Listed below is the 2022 ODAC Baseball Preseason Poll. For more information on ODAC baseball, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com.  Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.

2022 ODAC BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL