Mount Olive Ranked No. 1 In Collegiate Baseball Division II Top 30 Poll

For the second year in a row, Mount Olive is ranked No. 1 in the first regular season Collegiate Baseball Division II Top 30 Poll, as voted on by members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The Trojans were ranked No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll and No. 4 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason poll.

Mount Olive (3-0) swept a three-game non-conference series at Lenoir-Rhyne over the weekend to open the 2013 season. Grand slam home runs by Braden Reitano and Daniel Oliver helped power the Trojans to 37 runs in the series, including an 18-run outburst in game two of the series. Trojan starting pitchers Matt Dillon, Derek Justice and Alex Regan combined to toss 14 shutout innings.

Mount Olive has earned a No. 1 national ranking for at last one week in five of the last six years, starting with the 2008 season that culminated with winning the NCAA Division II Baseball National Championship. The Trojans spent three weeks at No. 1 last year.

The Trojans collected 462 points in the poll to edge out three teams tied for second with 456 points. St. Mary's (Texas) also went 3-0 over the weekend to jump three spots to No. 2 and tie with West Chester (Pa.) and Delta State (Miss.), which took the top two spots in the preseason poll. West Chester defeated Delta State in last year's Division II National Championship Game.

Mount Olive is one of three Southeast Region teams ranked in the top 10, the most from any region. A total of seven Southeast Region teams are ranked in the poll, including fellow Conference Carolinas member Belmont Abbey at No. 26.

Mount Olive plays its home opener this weekend as the Trojans play host to Newberry for a three-game non-conference series at Scarborough Field. The two teams play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. and conclude the series with a single game Sunday at 1 p.m.

Including this weekend's series, all of the Trojans remaining games in February are at Scarborough Field. Mount Olive will play 12 consecutive home games.

Collegiate Baseball Division II Top 30 Poll