Franklin Pierce Earns #21
Preseason Baseball Ranking
Ravens receive highest preseason ranking
from Collegiate Baseball Magazine in program history

RINDGE, N.H. (January 5, 2006) – The Franklin Pierce baseball team has been ranked No. 21 in Collegiate Baseball Magazine’s Division II preseason coaches’ poll released recently.

            The preseason rank is the highest in program history for Franklin Pierce and the second straight year the Ravens have received preseason top 25 billing after being ranked No. 23 last year. The Ravens highest national rank came in the final poll of 2003 when they were ranked No. 7 after reaching the semifinals of the Division II College World Series in Montgomery, Ala.            

Franklin Pierce returns eight of nine position players and three starting pitchers from last year’s team that captured its first Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Championship, posting a 32-14 overall mark (21-9 in the NE-10). The Ravens earned their second NCAA Tournament berth and hosted the Northeast Regional for the first time in program history, advancing to the regional title game before falling to Southern Connecticut State University, 1-0.

Head Coach Jayson King is entering his eighth year with the program and has led Franklin Pierce to a 191-134-1 (.587) mark in that time. Heading King’s list of returnees is junior Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills), a consensus Division II All-American in 2004, and senior Bryan Duplissie (East Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock), the reigning NE-10 Player of the Year.

Franklin Pierce opens its season the weekend of February 17-19 with a four-game series at the University of South Carolina-Upstate, among teams receiving votes in the preseason poll. The Ravens open their NE-10 schedule when they host No. 26 Southern Connecticut State on Tuesday, March 28, at 3 p.m.

Collegiate Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll