The season is upon us... where are the openings? And who is likely to land them?

South Region Hosted by Averett University, Danville, Va.
1. Salisbury
2. LaGrange
3. Rowan
4. Emory
5. Otterbein
6. Roanoke

* I like #3 Rowan here.

Mideast Region Hosted by Washington and Jefferson, Washington, Pa.

1. Wooster
2. Cortland
3. La Roche
4. Washington & Jefferson
5. Misericordia
6. Keystone
7. DePauw
8. Earlham

*#2 Cortland State
 
Central Region Hosted by Webster University, Sauget, Ill.
1. Birmingham-Southern
2. Washington U.
3. Wartburg
4. Webster
5. North Central (Ill.)
6. Greenville

*#1 Birmingham-Southern
 
West Region Hosted by The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
1. Texas-Tyler
2. Cal Lutheran
3. Centenary (La.)
4. Linfield
5. Concordia (Texas)
6. Rhodes
 
*#3 Centenary

Mid-Atlantic Region Hosted by Middle Atlantic Conference, York, Pa.
1. Johns Hopkins
2. Shenandoah
3. Wheaton (Mass.)
4. RIT
5. Alvernia
6. Elizabethtown
7. SUNY Maritime
8. Lesley
 
*#2 Shenandoah

New York Region Hosted by SUNYAC, Syracuse, N.Y.
1. Oswego State
2. Southern Maine
3. TCNJ
4. Tufts
5. Castleton
6. Ithaca
 
*#2 Southern Maine

New England Region Hosted by Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Harwich, Mass.
1. Mass-Boston
2. Arcadia
3. St. John Fisher
4. Salve Regina
5. Babson
6. Suffolk
7. Worcester State
8. Penn State-Berks

*#1 Umass-Boston

Midwest Region Hosted by Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, Wis.
1. UW-Whitewater
2. Concordia-Chicago
3. Adrian
4. St. Scholastica
5. UW-La Crosse
6. St. Thomas
7. Macalester
8. St. Norbert

*#1 UW Whitewater

I'd love to hear what everyone's initial impression of the first poll is.

2017 D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25

Records from 2016, Previous rankings from final 2016 D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25

#
School (1st votes)   Rec   Pts   Prev.
1   Cortland (15)   0-0   595   2
2   Keystone (1)   0-0   527   3
3   UW-La Crosse   0-0   523   4
4   Emory (1)   0-0   508   6
5   La Roche           0-0   505   5
6   Birmingham-Southern   0-0   455   10
7   Trinity (Texas) (7)   0-0   442   1
8   St. John Fisher   0-0   416   7
9   UW-Whitewater   0-0   414   9
10   Randolph-Macon   0-0   386   8
11   Ramapo   0-0   364   14
12   Oswego State   0-0   304   12
13   Tufts   0-0   299   13
14   Wooster (1)   0-0   253   17
15   Concordia-Chicago   0-0   220   16
16   Shenandoah   0-0   194   11
17   Washington U.   0-0   188   rv
18   TCNJ   0-0   155   19
19   Kean   0-0   149   rv
20   Texas-Tyler   0-0   102   rv
21   Texas Lutheran   0-0   92   -
22   Cal Lutheran   0-0   88   23
23   Marietta   0-0   78   rv
24   Salisbury   0-0   71   18
25   North Central (Ill.)   0-0   61   20
 

Others recieving votes: Wartburg 57, Whitworth 52, Mass.-Boston 48, Adrian 48, Saint John's (Minn.) 47, Susquehanna 46, Southern Maine 45, Webster 39, Occidental 36, Rose-Hulman 34, Haverford 30, Thomas More 22, Pacific Lutheran 22, William Paterson 21, Frostburg State 20, East Texas Baptist 17, Washington and Jefferson 17, Otterbein 15, Ithaca 14, Washington College 13, Misericordia 11, Widener 10, Concordia (Texas) 9, Buena Vista 7, MIT 7, Rhodes 7, Christopher Newport 6, St. Scholastica 6, Suffolk 6, Wheaton (Mass.) 6, LaGrange 4, St. Thomas (Minn.) 4, Case Western Reserve 3, Endicott 3, Johns Hopkins 3, Washington and Lee 3, Huntingdon 2, Ohio Northern 2, Alvernia 1, Linfield 1, Penn St.-Behrend 1, Salve Regina 1.

Just something to pass the time while we wait for the 2017 season to get going. If you had to build an all-time team for your favorite program, who would be on it?

I'll Start with Carthage:
C-John Zulegar '95
1B-Mark Beyer '96
2B-Ryan Lessner '00
SS- (Maybe someone can help here?)
3B- Dean Muthig '99
OF- Shorty Flees '97
OF- Glen Braun '99
OF- Will Hodges '11/Jack Richarz '95
UTL- Gavin Winfield '97
SP- Cory Everts '93
SP- Jeff Kaeppler '77
SP- Dan Falkingham '93
SP- Ryan Taylor '94
SP- Brent Sagedal '95
RP- Layne Grissman '97

Coach- Augie Schmidt IV

Some fodder for discussion and debate. A few Central Region teams on this list.

#   School (1st votes)   2015 Rec   Pts   Prev.
1   Cortland State (23)   45-4   622   1
2   UW-La Crosse   36-16   537   3
3   Emory   31-15   508   6
4   Salisbury   33-6-1   501   5
5   Kean   35-12   442   11
6   Webster   34-15   415   8
7   Trinity (Texas) (1)   40-14   414   4
8   Birmingham-Southern   37-12-1   396   10
9   UW-Whitewater   35-11   372   9
10   Frostburg State (1)   43-9   370   2
11   Rhodes   33-13   342   13
12   Heidelberg   33-14   286   14
13   UW-Stevens Point   33-14   277   12
14   Linfield   33-15   245   15
15   Southern Maine   32-15   225   rv
16   Shenandoah   28-10-1   216   16
17   Pacific Lutheran   32-14   193   17
18   Ramapo   33-16   185   8
19   Baldwin Wallace   31-12   183   20
20   Wartburg   33-14   153   21
21   Wooster   36-9   150   24
22   Texas-Tyler   34-12   140   19
23   Methodist   32-10   125   22
24   Marietta   29-18   108   rv
25   Alvernia   35-14   61   18
 

Others receiving votes: Misericordia 57, Cal Lutheran 54, Ohio Northern 50, Mary Washington 45, St. Thomas (Minn.) 41, Coe 40, Concordia-Texas 37, Concordia (Ill.), Johns Hopkins 25, Carthage 25, Adrian 24, La Roche 23, Mitchell 22, Thomas More 21, Millsaps 21, Keystone 19, MIT 15, Stevens Institute 12, St. Scholastica 12, Randolph-Macon 11, Huntingdon 8, Wesleyan (Conn.) 8, Ohio Wesleyan 6, Anderson 5, DeSales 5, Endicott 5, Eastern Conn. St. 3, Wis.-Oshkosh 3, Rensselaer 2, Redlands 2, Clarkson 1, Rose-Hulman 1, Rutgers-Camden 1, Salem St. 1, Southwestern (Tex.) 1.

Below is how I see the Central Region this year. We'll see how it all plays out so I guess that I have a few favorites in the region that others (at least nationally) don't expect much from.

1. Webster (SLIAC)
2. Carthage (CCIW)
3. Wheaton (IL) (CCIW)
4. Wartburg (IIAC)
5. IWU (CCIW)
6. WashU (UAA)
7. North Central (CCIW)
8. St. Norbert (MWC)
9. North Park (CCIW)
10. Coe (IIAC)

Rank   Team (2015 Final Record)   Points
  1.   Cortland St., NY (45-4)   273
  2.   Wisc.-La Crosse (36-16)   270
  3.   Emory, GA (31-15)   269
  4.   Salisbury, MD (33-6-1)   265
  5.   Webster, MO (34-15)   260
  6.   Kean, NJ (35-12)   258
  7.   Rhodes, TN (33-13)   255
  8.   Southern Maine (32-15)   252
  9.   Birmingham So., AL (37-12)   250
10.   Linfield, OR (33-15)   247
11.   Wisc.-Whitewater (35-11)   246
12.   Wartburg, IA (33-14)   245
13.   Marietta, OH (29-18)   243
14.   Wisc.-Stevens Point (33-14)   241
15.   Shenandoah, VA (28-10-1)   240
16.   Pacific Lutheran, WA (32-14)   238
17.   Methodist, NC (32-10)   235
18.   Heidelberg, OH (33-14)   231
19.   Baldwin Wallace, OH (31-12)   229
20.   Texas-Tyler (34-12)   226
21.   Wooster, OH (36-9)   221
22.   Cal. Lutheran (32-12)   218
23.   Concordia Texas (31-12)   216
24.   Johns Hopkins, MD (30-13-1)   213
25.   Carthage, WI (30-15)   210
26.   Concordia-Chicago, IL (33-15)   208
27.   Trinity, TX (40-14)   206
28.   Frostburg St. (43-9)   203
29.   Mary Washington, VA (27-7)   201
30.   Alvernia, PA (35-14)   200
31.   Oswego St., NY (27-13)   198
32.   Randolph-Macon, VA (26-10)   197
33.   Amherst, MA (27-15)   196
34.   Misericordia, PA (31-13)   192
35.   Ramapo, NJ (33-16)   186
36.   Coe, IA (34-14)   183
37.   Ithaca, NY (20-14)   180
38.   Keystone, PA (33-14)   177
39.   Stevens Institute, NJ (29-14)   175
40.   Pomona-Pitzer, CA (28-13)   172
Also Receiving Votes: Whitworth, Washington-St. Louis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Adrian, Millsaps, Wesleyan (CT), Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, La Roche, Redlands, Bethel, Tufts, Endicott, Eastern Connecticut St., Salem St., St. Thomas (MN), SUNY Old Westbury, Saint John’s (MN), Pittsburgh-Greensburg, Chapman, Rutgers-Camden, Scranton, DeSales, Rose-Hulman, St. John Fisher, Salve Regina, UMass-Boston, Rowan, Maryville, Rochester, Buena Vista.

Which D3'ers are we most likely to see be taken in the MLB Draft? I am not certain any will go today, but we usually see 15-20 taken by the end of the draft weekend...