Baseball ranked No. 24 in 2016 Perfect Game Division III Preseason Top 25 Teams
By Ashley Birchmeier
| Perfect Game Division III Preseason Top 25 |
ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team was ranked No. 24 in the 2016 Perfect Game Division III Preseason Top 25 Teams released Tuesday.
Cortland (N.Y.) claimed the top spot, followed by Emory (Ga.) in second and Webster (Mo.) in third.
Ohio Athletic Conference foe Baldwin Wallace also cracked the top 25, ranked No. 9 in the preseason release.
The Polar Bears return much of its lineup for the 2016 season, which finished 30-9 overall a season ago.
The most notable return for Northern is its veteran pitching staff. The Polar Bears return five pitchers who saw at least 25 innings of work in 2015.
ONU is set to open the season Sunday, Feb. 28 with its annual Spring Break Trip to Florida.
2016 Perfect Game Division III Preseason Top 25 Teams
| Rank | Teams | Record | 15 Rank |
| 1. | Cortland (N.Y.) | 45-4 | 1 |
| 2. | Emory (Ga.) | 31-15 | 4 |
| 3. | Webster (Mo.) | 34-15 | 6 |
| 4. | Trinity (Texas) | 40-14 | 5 |
| 5. | Rhodes (Tenn.) | 33-13 | 9 |
| 6. | UW La Crosse (Wis.) | 36-16 | 8 |
| 7. | Kean (N.J.) | 35-12 | 11 |
| 8. | Southern Maine (Maine) | 32-15 | 21 |
| 9. | Baldwin Wallace | 31-12 | 14 |
| 10. | UW Whitewater (Wis.) | 35-11 | 7 |
| 11. | Salisbury (Md.) | 33-6-1 | 3 |
| 12. | Birmingham-Southern (Ala.) | 37-12-1 | 12 |
| 13. | St. Thomas (Minn.) | 24-16-1 | NR |
| 14. | Cal. Lutheran (Calif.) | 32-12 | 23 |
| 15. | Shenandoah (Va.) | 28-10-1 | 13 |
| 16. | Wooster (Ohio) | 36-9 | 25 |
| 17. | Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) | 32-14 | 19 |
| 18. | Concordia (Texas) | 31-12 | 23 |
| 19. | Adrian (Mich.) | 33-12 | NR |
| 20. | Texas Tyler | 34-12 | 15 |
| 21. | UW Stevens Point (Wis.) | 33-14 | 10 |
| 22. | Concordia (Ill.) | 33-15 | NR |
| 23. | St. John Fisher (N.Y.) | 25-18 | NR |
| 24. | Ohio Northern | 30-9 | NR |
| 25. | Tufts (Mass.) | 26-10 | NR |