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ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Tusculum College has been picked third in the 2012 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Coaches’ Poll announced league officials Wednesday.  The Pioneers also placed a SAC-best five players on the Preseason All-Conference Team.

 Tusculum received 79 total points in a poll of the league’s 10 baseball coaches. 

 Last year’s SAC Champion, Catawba, is the favorite once again this year after receiving 96 points, along with eight first place votes.  Defending SAC Tournament Champion Wingate is the second pick with 91 points and two first place nods.   Tusculum is third, followed by Lincoln Memorial (59), Newberry (55), Carson-Newman (54), Mars Hill (41), Anderson (31), Lenoir-Rhyne (29) and Brevard (15).

 Tusculum’s Craig Goodman, Alexi Colon and Nate Reid were named to the Preseason All-SAC First Team, while Dylan Hochevar and Matt Henriksen garnered Second Team recognition.

 Goodman, a 6-1, 195-pound senior pitcher from Clearwater, Fla., returns as Tusculum No. 1 starter in the weekend rotation.  The 2011 All-SAC First Team standout posted an 8-4 record with a 2.87 earned run average, the second lowest in the league and 10^th-best in school single-season history.  In his 78.1 innings of work, Goodman recorded a team-best 70 strikeouts, while limiting the opposition to a .245 batting average.  He has also been named a 2012 National Player to Watch by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA).

 Colon, a 5-8, 175-pound senior outfielder from Vineland, N.J., was a consensus All-Southeast Region selection last year, batting .331 while leading the team with 12 home runs (4^th in SAC/22^nd in NCAA II), 62 RBI (3^rd in SAC/8^th in NCAA II, 113 total bases (4^th in SAC/43^rd in NCAA II), 50 runs scored (5^th in SAC/45^th in NCAA II), 38 walks (3^rd in SAC/17^th in NCAA II), five sacrifice flies (1^st in SAC) and a .624 slugging percentage (4^th in SAC).  The 2012 ABCA/Rawlings Preseason All-American also finished last season with 60 hits, 13 doubles, two triples, eight stolen bases and a .445 on-base percentage (9^th in SAC).

 Reid, a 5-10, 210-pound senior catcher from Bourbonnais, Ill, batted ,294 in his first Tusculum campaign as he finished with 37 hits, including eight doubles, three home runs and 24 RBI.  He led the team with his .991 fielding percentage (10^th in SAC), committing only one error in his 115 total chances, while also posting a .304 batting average in conference outings.

 Hochevar, a 6-2, 210-pound pitcher from Wray, Colo., posted a 5-2 record in his 15 mound appearances, including eight starts.  The 2011 All-SAC Second Team honoree finished his first Tusculum campaign with a 4.30 ERA, while also recording pair of saves before moving to the weekend rotation.  He pitched in 69 innings where he accounted for 66 strikeouts (6^th in SAC).  Hochevar previously played at Tennessee from 2009-2010, where he made 16 appearances and one start for the Volunteers.

 Henriksen, a 6-2, 205-pound junior infielder from Hingham, Mass., finished third on the team with his .345 batting average and second with his .565 slugging percentage, which was ninth-best in the league.  The two-time SAC Player of the Week recorded 58 hits in 2011, including 15 doubles (8^th in SAC), two triples, six home runs and 37 RBI.

 Tusculum opens its season, Friday, Feb. 3rd as the Pioneers travel to St. Andrews University for the first contest of a three-game series against the Knights in Laurinburg, N.C.  Tusculum posted a 33-18 record and finished third in the South Atlantic Conference last season.  The Pioneers recorded their 11th consecutive winning season and ninth 30-win campaign.