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Lynchburg Returns to Top of ODAC Baseball Preseason Poll

Three Teams Garner First Place Consideration

FOREST, Va. --- Two-time defending ODAC champion University of Lynchburg sits atop the 2025 ODAC Baseball Preseason Poll as favorites entering the new season, but the Hornets are not shoo-ins to collect their 12th conference title with league coaches awarding first place votes to three different schools.

Lynchburg garnered eight of those top nods on the way to 118 points. Randolph-Macon College sits second in the survey with 110 markers powered by three first place hat-tips. Shenandoah University sits third with 96 tallies, while Bridgewater College is fourth with 91 points including the remaining first place vote.

In the sections below, we look back to the 2024 season to set the tone for this year and then dive into some features of ODAC baseball for the upcoming 2025 campaign.

2025 ODAC BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL
(#) denotes first place votes received

1. University of Lynchburg (8)118 pts.
2. Randolph-Macon College (3)110 pts.
3. Shenandoah University96 pts.
4. Bridgewater College (1)91 pts.
5. Roanoke College76 pts.
6. Washington and Lee University65 pts.
7. Virginia Wesleyan University64 pts.
8. Guilford College54 pts.
9. Hampden-Sydney College51 pts.
10. Ferrum College26 pts.
11. Averett University21 pts.
12. Eastern Mennonite University20 pts.
    • ODAC baseball remained one of the best conferences in Division III in 2024 with seven teams winning at least 20 games and six posting better than .500 winning percentages.
    • Lynchburg (37) and Randolph-Macon (33) led the way with more than 30 victories.
    • The two-weekend ODAC Tournament provided Division III baseball fans with arguably the best competition in the country.
    • All four top seeds – RMC, RC, SU, LYN – won their best-of-three series via 2-0 records to punch their tickets to Capital One Park for double-elimination play for the right to lift the ODAC trophy.
    • Day 1: Lynchburg and Roanoke opened with victories, albeit in much different fashion with the Hornets topping Randolph-Macon, 5-0, and Roanoke out-slugging Shenandoah, 11-10.
    • Day 2: Shenandoah stayed alive with a 10-7 win over RMC in the day's first outing, while Lynchburg put itself in the driver's seat for the crown with a 7-6 win over the Maroons.
    • Day 3: three games were meant to be played on day two, but weather forced the previous day's final outing to Saturday; Roanoke joined Lynchburg in a showdown for the championship with a 9-5 win over Shenandoah; Lynchburg had two chances to win the ODAC crown, but needed just one outing as the Hornets defeated the Maroons, 9-4, to claim the program's second straight and 11th baseball trophy.
    • Lynchburg has won three of the past four ODAC baseball championships.
    • Defending Division III champion Lynchburg was not only joined by Randolph-Macon in the initial Division III championship field, but both advanced to final round of competition in Eastlake, Ohio
      • Lynchburg went 7-2 overall, while RMC posted a 5-3 mark.
      • Their 12 wins marked the ODAC's second-best showing in the NCAA Tournament behind the 15 victories racked up by RMC (1-2), Shenandoah (4-3) and Lynchburg (10-2) en route to Lynchburg's national title in 2023.
    • Both Lynchburg and RMC swept through their regional pods
      • Lynchburg: playing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, the Hornets defeated Ithaca College, 3-1, and the host Spartans, 5-0, to put themselves in the driver's seat for the regional crown; LYN again downed CWRU, this time by a 6-5 result, to advance to the super-regionals
      • Randolph-Macon: playing at PSU-Harrisburg, RMC downed Elizabethtown, 4-0, and then squashed the host Lions, 7-3, to become the regional favorite; the Yellow Jackets needed just one more game, defeating Elizabethtown 5-2, to advance to the super regionals
    • Both Lynchburg and RMC won their super regional showdowns
      • Lynchburg took down host University of La Verne, 7-1 and 6-4, to advance to its second straight final round.
      • Randolph-Macon, serving as host of its super regional, opened with a 6-5 win over Adrian College before falling in game two, 5-4; RMC posted earned a 9-6 triumph in game three to win the best-of-three series and advance to the final round for the first time since 2018.
    • Lynchburg and Randolph-Macon were joined by Endicott, Pomona-Pitzer, Misericordia, Salve Regina, Birmingham Southern, and UW-Whitewater at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, for the NCAA trophy
      • Randolph-Macon was eliminated in pod play with losses in their first two games to UWW, 11-3, and BSC, 9-7.
      • Lynchburg took down top-ranked Endicott, 7-2, and Misericordia, 6-2, to put the Hornets one win away from the national championship series, but Misericordia recovered to defeat Lynchburg in the final two games of pod play, 3-2 and 5-1, to end the Hornets' season.
    • D3BASEBALL.COM/NCBWA PRESEASON TOP-25: release on January 17, two ODAC squads appear inside the top-25 preseason poll published by D3baseball.com and the NCBWA; Lynchburg is ranked ninth, while Randolph-Macon is slotted 16th; Shenandoah is among several schools earning votes towards the initial survey.
    • D3BASEBALL.COM PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: no ODAC players featured as D3baseball.com Preseason All-Americans published by the D3baseball.com on January 14.

  • The amount of All-ODAC returning players from one season to the next has fluctuated over the past several years. Two seasons ago, 30 all-conference stars were back in league stadiums, while just 19 of the 2023 honorees returned last season. Entering 2025, ODAC fans will enjoy 26-of-40 All-ODAC stars in uniform from the 2024 awards charts.

    Roanoke features two special individual honorees with ODAC Co-Pitcher of the Year Jackson Murphy joined by ODAC Rookie of the Year Kyle Moshier (2B). Reigning and four-time ODAC Coach of the Year Ray Hedrick welcomes five all-conference standouts to his Randolph-Macon squad, second-most behind Lynchburg's half-dozen returners.

    • All-ODAC First Team Returners (7)
      • SP: Jackson Murphy, RC
      • RP: Joey Mitchell, SU
      • C: Campbell Charneco, WLU
      • 2B: Kyle Moshier, RC
      • OF: Quinn Madden, LYN
      • OF: Corey Coogan, RC
      • DH: Carter Schmitt, RMC
    • All-ODAC Second Team Returners (10)
      • SP: Joe Christopher, BC
      • SP: Nick Mattfield, LYN
      • RP: Sam Slevin, RMC
      • C: Sean Pokorak, LYN
      • 2B: Benton Jones, LYN
      • SS: Brandon Garcia, LYN
      • OF: Skyler Dark, GC
      • OF: Haden Madagan, SU
      • DH: Joe Munitz, LYN
      • UT: Zach Wernoski, RMC
    • All-ODAC Third Team Returners (9)
      • SP: Colin Casey, RMC
      • SP: Evan Blair, WLU
      • RP: Ben Sundell, WLU
      • C: Brody Pickette, SU
      • 2B: Nick Stavros, BC
      • 3B: Nick Arnold, EMU
      • OF: Christian Lancaster, HSC
      • OF: Jon Quici, RMC
      • UT: Chase Wade, GC

  • The athletes listed below represent the top-three returning statistical leaders for major statistical categories from the 2024 season.
    Batting Minimums: 2.5 plate appearances per game and played in 75% of team games
    Pitching Minimums: 1.0 innings pitched per team game

     PLAYER #1PLAYER #2PLAYER #3
    Batting Avg..429Shawn Baxter, FC.391Grayson Harris, HSC.386Alex Gulisano, EMU
    OBP.486Zach Wernoski, RMC.485Benton Jones, LYN.475Alex Gulisano, EMU
    SLG.582Connor Houser, SU.580Quinn Madden, LYN.563Kyle Moshier, RC
    Runs61Brandon Garcia, LYN55Jon Quici, RMC52Benton Jones, LYN
    Hits73Quinn Madden, LYN66Brandon Garcia, LYN65Benton Jones, LYN
    2B15Quinn Madden, LYN15Hayden Giordano, RC15Nick Arnold, EMU
    3B6Skyler Dark, GC6Russell Golembe, FC4Benton Jones, LYN
    Hayden Giordano, RC
    HR12Chaz Harvey, RMC11Quinn Madden, LYN9Haden Madagan, SU
    RBI68Quinn Madden, LYN49Benton Jones, LYN48Chaz Harvey, RMC
    BB48Benton Jones, LYN45Brandon Garcia, LYN44Jon Quici, RMC
    SB29Brandon Garcia, LYN22Nick Arnold, EMU19Jonathan French, EMU
    Russell Golembe, FC
               
    ERA3.55Bere Bauers, RMC3.56Nick Mattfield, LYN3.75Joe Christopher, BC
    IP86.0Nick Mattfield, LYN74.0Jackson Murphy, RC66.0Marchello Ricigliano, GC
    Wins8Nick Mattfield, LYN5Jackson Murphy, RC5Colin McGuire, LYN
    Jack McDowell, VWU
    SV4Colin McGuire, LYN4Nick Harris, BC1Damen Tapscott, EMU
    Jackson Marcellus, GC
    CG2Marcello Ricigliano, GC2Thomas Burgess, RC1Jackson Marcellus, GC
    Damen Tapscott, EMU
    Sterling Austin, HSC
    K72Nick Mattfield, LYN56Jack McDowell, VWU56Evan Blair, WLU

  • Below are the win-loss records for each coach entering the 2025 spring campaign.

    COACHSCHOOLSEASON (AT SCHOOL)OVERALL (PCT.)AT SCHOOL (PCT.)
    Kenny FlemingAverett7th (7th)47-154-1 (.235)47-154-1 (.235)
    Ben SpottsBridgewater13th (6th)211-228-1 (.481)93-8 (.544)
    Adam PoseyEastern Mennonite6th (6th)52-101 (.340)52-101 (.340)
    Eric OwensFerrum1st (1st)0-0 (.000)0-0 (.000)
    Zach BookerGuilford4th (4th)51-63-1 (.448)51-63-1 (.448)
    Michael MulveyHampden-Sydney1st (1st)0-0 (.000)0-0 (.000)
    Travis BeazleyLynchburg2nd (2nd)37-17 (.685)37-17 (.685)
    Ray HedrickRandolph-Macon21st (21st)490-292-6 (.626)490-292-6 (.626)
    Brett KaminskiRoanoke1st (1st)0-0 (.000)0-0 (.000)
    Kevin AndersonShenandoah26th (22nd)792-352-3 (.692)645-265-2 (.708)
    Chris FrancisVirginia Wesleyan14th (11th)203-276-3 (.424)164-181-3 (.476)
    Ted WhiteWashington and Lee8th (8th)102-114 (.472)102-114 (.472)
    • The ODAC's 12 sponsoring teams will compete in a full double round-robin ODAC slate of 22 games in addition to their selected non-conference games.
    • The first non-conference games of the season are slated for the weekend of February 8-9.
    • The ODAC Tournament will be competed over two weekends:
      • Friday-Sunday, May 2-4 – Best-of-3 Series
        • #8 at #1 - #7 at #2 - #6 at #3 - #5 at #4
      • Thursday-Sunday, May 8-10 – Double Elimination
        • Capital One Park in Tysons, Va.
        • Teams Re-Seeded as Necessary