Darl Zehr Photography
The SUNY Cortland baseball team is ranked first nationally in Division III in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper 2018 preseason poll.
Cortland is ranked first in the preseason for the third straight year. Last spring, the Red Dragons finished 38-9 and tied for ninth nationally in the NCAA Division III playoffs, one win shy of making their fourth straight World Series appearance. Cortland was 43-8 and tied for third nationally in 2016, and the Red Dragons won the national title in 2015.
Cortland has made 14 World Series appearances, all since 1995 - the most by any school since the eight-team Series format was adopted in 1991. Ten of those showings have come in head coach Joe Brown's first 18 seasons (2000-01, 2005, 2007-08, 2010, 2012, 2014-16). Cortland's current run of 25 straight NCAA tournament appearances is the longest active streak in Division III and the third longest in any NCAA division behind Division I schools Florida State (40) and Cal St.-Fullerton (26).
In addition to its 2015 national title, Cortland has finished second nationally twice (2005, 2010), third three times (1997, 1998, 2016) and fourth twice (2007, 2012).
The Red Dragons open their 2018 season with games at #20 Salisbury on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 17-18. Cortland will play at #17 Johns Hopkins March 4, as well a home-and-home series with #21 Ithaca and three SUNYAC games versus #15 Oswego.
The D3baseball.com preseason national poll will be released in mid-January.
