TUCSON, Ariz. – With the start of preseason practice for baseball set for about a month from now, Webster University opens the 2020 season ranked No. 3 in the Preseason NCAA Division III ABCA/Collegiate Baseball poll that was released recently.
 
Webster, who finished last season with an 8-5 record during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, earned 283 points in the preseason poll to sit two points behind No. 2 ranked Chapman (285 points) and four points behind Cal Lutheran (287 points). Chapman was the most recent NCAA Division III National Champion as they won the title in 2019.

This year's No. 3 preseason ranking is the second highest for the Gorloks in school history as its marks the second consecutive year that Webster has been ranked in the Top 5 as the Gorloks were ranked No. 2 in last year's preseason poll. In addition, the Gorloks have now been ranked in the Top 5 of the preseason poll for the third time since 2016 as they were ranked fifth in the 2016 preseason poll.
 
Webster is one of two schools from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll as Spalding was among the 47 teams receiving votes in the poll.
 
The Gorloks return eight position starters and five key pitchers from last season's team that posted an 8-5 record before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"We are an older and experienced team returning almost all of our starting position players and pitching staff," Webster head coach Bill Kurich said in the Division III preview article from Collegiate Baseball. "This is a team looking to prove themselves this upcoming season."
 
Among the key returners for the Gorloks in 2021 are two returning 2019 All-Americans - junior third baseman Ben Swords (Freeport, Ill./Freeport), graduate student pitcher Matt Mulhearn (Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic). In addition to the two returning All-Americans from 2019, graduate student first baseman Kyler Kent (Pottsboro, Texas/Pottsboro) returns after being an All-American as a sophomore in 2018.  
 
During the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, Swords hit .354 with 17 hits and five runs scored, while also hitting two doubles, one triple and 17 RBI and was 7-for-8 in stolen base. Swords, who hit .358 during his ABCA Third-Team All-American season in 2019, enters this season sitting in the Top 10 on the school's career chart in doubles (41), assists (221), RBI (106), stolen bases (40) and walks (49) and is 15th in career hits with 147. He finished last season ranked second in Division III in sacrifice flies with four and was 45th nationally in RBI with 17.
 
Mulhearn, who was named a Third-Team ABCA All-American and an Honorable Mention D3Baseball.com All-American in 2019, posted an 0-1 record and a 1.93 ERA during the COVID-10 shortened 2020 season. On the season, he made six appearances and four starts and led the Gorloks in saves with two and also tossed the team's only complete game and in 28 innings of work, he struck out 23 and walked four. He was tied for the team lead in strikeouts with 23 and led the team in innings pitched (28.0). In 2019, Mulhearn went 12-2 with a 2.13 ERA and he led the Gorloks in wins (12), starts (15), complete games (5), ERA (2.13), innings pitched (105.2) and strikeouts (102) and was second in appearances with 19 and was one of just three pitchers in school history to record 100 or more strikeouts in a season. Mulhearn's 12 wins and 105.2 innings pitched were both single season school records, while is 15 starts were tied for the most in a single season.
 
The other returning position starters besides Swords and Kent for the Gorloks this season include junior shortstop Matt Staker (El Cajon, Calif./Saint Augustine), sophomore second baseman Mitch Daniels (Columbia, Ill./Columbia), freshman leftfielder Landon Vahle (Lee's Summitt, Mo./St. Michael Archangel), graduate student centerfielder Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College), junior rightfielder Adam Lovell (Lafayette, Ind./Saint Joseph's (Ind.)) and senior designed hitter A.J. Smith (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin). While the top returning pitchers along with Mulhearn are junior starting pitcher Sean Beaver (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch), senior starting pitcher Cooper Hake (Lincoln, Ill./IU-South Bend), freshman relief pitcher Jordan Smevoll (Dyer, Ind./Marian Catholic) and junior relief pitcher Jake Anderson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook).
 
Along with returning eight position starters and its five top pitchers, the Gorloks also added 15 newcomers to its roster for 2021 and among some of the key newcomers are freshman third baseman/pitcher Joel Arsenault (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), freshman catcher Nico Cristelli (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo East), freshman outfielder/first baseman Levi Hall (Oceanside, Calif./El Camino), freshman catcher/outfielder R.J. LaRocco (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma), freshman pitcher J.T. Miller (Centennial, Colo./Regis Jesuit), junior pitcher Deven Shulstad (Tampa, Fla./Harris-Stowe State) and junior second baseman Bo Slaymaker (Johnstown, Colo./McPherson College).

Behind Cal Lutheran, Chapman and Webster in the poll, Kean (N.J.) (8-2) is ranked fourth, while Southern Maine (0-1) is fifth and WashU (9-3) is ranked sixth. Heidelberg (7-5) is seventh, Birmingham-Southern (10-6), who were the 2019 Division III National runners-up, is eighth. The final two teams in the preseason Top 10 are Salisbury (8-3) at No. 9 and North Central (Ill.) (7-0) at No. 10.

Along with releasing a Preseason Top 40 poll, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper also includes a list of NCAA Division III players to watch during the 2021 season and included on the list are three Gorloks - Mulhearn and Beaver, are listed as right-handed pitchers and Swords is listed at third base. 
 
The Gorloks, who begin preseason practice on January 27, are scheduled to open the 2021 season with a home game on Feb. 20 at GCS Credit Union Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., against an opponent that has yet to be determined and is scheduled to begin SLIAC play at home on March 13-14 against Westminster (Mo.) College. The postseason is scheduled to begin on May 13-15 as the top four teams in the regular season standings advance to the SLIAC Tournament, which will be held this year at CarShield Field in O'Fallon, Mo.