SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team will begin its preseason workouts in January as the No. 31 team in the nation as a result of votes cast for the American Baseball Coaches Association's NCAA Division II Pre-Season Poll.

The Rock was ranked among a group of seven Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference teams that either earned a top-40 ranking or received votes in the preseason poll.

Defending Atlantic Regional champion Kutztown was ranked ninth in the poll, while reigning PSAC champion California (Pa.) was ranked 24th.

California was one of 11 opponents on the 2011 Rock schedule who either attained a top-40 ranking or received votes in the poll.

Indicative of the strength of schedule The Rock will face this spring is the fact that 11 of the Green and White's 12 games during its annual spring-break trip to Florida will be against teams included in the preseason poll, headlined by No. 5 Tampa. SRU will also face No. 12 Minnesota State-Mankato, No. 36 West Chester, No. 37 Ashland and also-receiving-votes teams Mansfield, Saint Joseph's (Indiana) and Seton Hillas part of the March 3-13 action in Lakeland.

The Rock is also scheduled to meet Saint Joseph's as part of the season-opening weekend of games February 19-20 at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio. Tiffin will round out the field of competitors that weekend.

The following weekend, SRU is slated to play two games against Shippensburg, another also-receiving-votes team, in Aberdeen, Md.

Later in the season, The Rock will meet Mansfield for a second time as well as PSAC-Western Division rival Mercyhurst and regional rival Shepherd, all of which were included in the group of teams that received votes in the ABCA preseason national poll.

All told, SRU has 25 games scheduled against teams that were either ranked in the top 40 or received votes in the ABCA preseason poll. Click here to view the complete 2011 Rock baseball schedule.

The Rock, under the guidance of 26-year head coach Jeff Messer, return seven starting position players and three of their top five starting pitchers from a 2010 squad that compiled a 27-23 record and finished third in the PSAC tournament.

Among the returning players are all-region pitcher George Hebert, all-region outfielder Matt Howard (top photo) and All-PSAC-West shortstop Adam Jury.

The complete Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Division II Pre-Season Poll was as follows:

1. Southern Indiana (52-14) 640 points
2. UC San Diego (54-8) 624 points
3. Central Missouri (52-11) 608 points
4. Georgia College & State (42-17) 584 points
5. Tampa (46-11) 576 points
6. Abilene Christian (50-15) 550 points
7. Mount Olive (41-11) 532 points
8. Florida Southern (41-16) 516 points
9. Kutztown (42-15) 508 points
10. Franklin Pierce (43-17-1) 492 points
11. Columbus State (44-12) 482 points
12. Minnesota State-Mankato (44-16) 478 points
13. Emporia State (43-16) 472 points
14. Valdosta State (41-17) 422 points
15. Francis Marion (40-14) 406 points
16. Southern Arkansas (47-10) 386 points
17. Northern Kentucky (43-17) 382 points
18. St. Mary's, Texas (40-19) 376 points
19. Mesa State (37-20) 360 points
20. South Carolina-Aiken (32-19) 328 points
21. West Florida (36-20) 294 points
22. Incarnate Word (42-18) 272 points
23. Catawba (40-13) 264 points
24. California, Pa. (34-18) 262 points
25. Indianapolis (35-22) 260 points
26. Grand Valley State (37-16) 234 points
27. Cal. State Dominguez Hills (41-20) 228 points
28. Erskine (41-17) 204 points
29. Rollins (41-19) 188 points
30. Southern Connecticut State (38-13-1) 178 points
31. SLIPPERY ROCK (27-23) 166 points
32. Delta State (34-16-1) 112 points
33. Florida Tech (39-16) 104 points
34. Cal. State San Bernardino (29-15) 96 points
35. North Georgia (34-17) 84 points
36. West Chester (39-14) 80 points
37. Ashland (35-22) 78 points
38. New Mexico Highlands (41-13) 60 points
39. Southeastern Oklahoma (32-21) 58 points
40t. St. Cloud State (41-17) 54 points
40.t Winona State (36-16) 54 points
40t. Cal. State Chico (36-20) 54 points

Also Receiving Votes: Wayne State (Mich.) 24 points, N.C. Pembroke 24 points, Mercyhurst 20 points, Texas-Permian Basin 20 points, Hawaii Pacific 12 points, Cameron 10 points, Western Oregon 10 points, Seton Hill 10 points, Mansfield 6 points, New Haven 2 points, Tusculum 2 points, Wingate 2 points, Carson-Newman 2 points, Georgia Southwestern 2 points, Bellarmine 2 points, St. Joseph's (Ind.) 2 points, UMass-Lowell 2 points, Fort Hays State. 2 points, Missouri Southern 2 points, Nebraska-Kearney 2 points, Wayne State (Neb.) 2 points, Nova Southeastern 2 points, Barry 2 points, North Alabama 2 points, Ouachita Baptist 2 points, Shepherd 2 points, Shippensburg 2 points.

2011 Rock opponents in bold italics