HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) has unveiled the 2023 Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll. The Trine University baseball team was voted to place seventh in the league.
Hope College was selected to repeat as MIAA regular season champions with 46 points and five first-place votes. Adrian College just missed out on the top spot with 45 points and the remaining three first-place votes. Kalamazoo College (37 points), Calvin University (30 points) and Alma College (34 points) round out the top five in the preseason poll.
Last season, the Thunder placed fifth in the conference standings at 9-12 in MIAA contests and 14-23 overall. Trine won series against Adrian College, Albion College and Olivet College, including a three-game sweep of the Comets, and got a regular season win over the MIAA Tournament champion, Kalamazoo College.
Head coach Greg Perschke is entering his 22nd season in charge of Thunder baseball. Trine has Second Team All-MIAA pitcher Josh Hoogewerf back on the 2023 roster this season. The junior from Crown Point, Indiana was third in the conference in earned run average last year at 4.04 and was fifth at the end of the regular season with 42 strikeouts. Juniors Cam Nagel and Kade Keele join him as starting pitchers in the Thunder rotation.
The senior class consists of Tyler Robinson, Robert Kortas, Cole Decker, Matt Weis, Adam Stefanelli, Avery Fulford, Luke Cline, Corey Erbskorn, Jackson O'Keefe and Korey Brandow. 9-of-11 homeruns hit one season ago are in this senior class, including three each from Fulford and Stefanelli. Stefanelli also led the team in on-base percentage (.438), slugging percentage (.481), runs batted in (25), stolen bases (7) and walks (14).
The Thunder baseball season gets underway on Saturday, February 25 with a doubleheader at Anderson University beginning at 12 p.m.