2010 Rock baseball schedule

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – In a preseason poll of the division's head coaches, Slippery Rock University was picked to finish second in this spring's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division baseball competition.

The Rock, coached by veteran mentor Jeff Messer, received one first-place vote and finished behind defending conference champion California (Pa.), which received five of the seven first-place votes.

The 1-2 finish by California and The Rock in the preseason PSAC-West poll sets up an interesting opening weekend of division action March 18-19, when The Rock and Vulcans will meet in a pair of doubleheaders. The four-game series is scheduled to start with a 1 p.m. twinbill March 18 at Jack Critchfield Park in Slippery Rock, followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader March 19 at Consol Energy Park in Washington, Pa.

Mercyhurst was the No. 3 finisher in the PSAC-West poll, while Indiana (Pa.) received the other first-place vote and finished fourth in the overall balloting.

Rounding out the predicted order of finish in the PSAC-West race were Lock Haven, Gannon and Clarion.

Reigning NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional champion Kutztown was the preseason pick of PSAC-East head coaches to win that division's 2011 championship, followed by West Chester and Mansfield.

Kutztown received five first-place votes, while WCU and Mansfield each received one No. 1 vote.

Fourth through seventh places in the PSAC-East poll went to East Stroudsburg, Millersville, Shippensburg and Bloomsburg in that order.

The Rock is scheduled to face Shippensburg in a three-game series Feb. 26-27 at the Ripken Baseball complex in Aberdeen, Md., and during the course of the season will play two games each against Mansfield and West Chester.

SRU is scheduled to open its 2011 season Feb. 19-20 at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, with a pair of games each against Tiffin (Ohio) and St. Joseph's (Ind.).

Following the three-game series vs. Shippensburg, The Rock will head south for 10 games in Florida before returning home to open its PSAC-West schedule, beginning with the series vs. California.

The Rock's schedule in the Sunshine State features a single game each vs. preseason national top-10 teams Minnesota State (March 4) and Tampa (March 9) as well as two games against West Chester and one game each vs. Mansfield and perennial national power Ashland (Ohio).

Messer welcomes back seven starting position players and two of his top five pitchers from last spring's team, which finished with a 27-23 record and a third-place finish in the PSAC playoffs. Headlining the list of returning players are all-star performers George Hebert (photo above, pitcher), Rich Hocanson (pitcher), Matt Howard (outfielder) and Adam Jury (shortstop).

2011 PSAC Preseason Baseball Polls

Western DIvision
1. California (5)
2. SLIPPERY ROCK (1)
3. Mercyhurst
4. Indiana (1)
5. Lock Haven
6. Gannon
7. Clarion

Eastern Division
1. Kutztown (5)
2. West Chester (1)
3. Mansfield (1)
4. East Stroudsburg
5. Millersville
6. Shippensburg
7. Bloomsburg