CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - With the start of the 2021 regular season right around the corner, Webster University opens the upcoming season ranked No. 1 in the Preseason Perfect Game NCAA Division III Top 25 Poll that was released Monday afternoon.

In the poll, Webster, who finished the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season with an 8-5 overall record, sits atop the preseason poll from Perfect Game USA after finishing last season ranked 15th in the 2020 final poll.  

The Gorloks are one of two schools from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference ranked in the Perfect Game Preseason Top 25 poll as Spalding University, who went 11-3 in the 2020 season, opens the 2021 campaign ranked 20th. 

In addition to Webster, the other four teams in the Preseason Top 25 poll from Perfect Game are Southern Maine at No. 2, Randolph-Macon at No. 3, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at No. 4 and Cal Lutheran opens at No. 5. 

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.

 
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).

The Gorloks, who begin preseason practice in early January, are scheduled to open the 2021 season with a home doubleheader on Feb. 20 at GCS Credit Union Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., against Wabash College and are scheduled to begin SLIAC play at home on March 13-14 with a four-game series against Westminster (Mo.) College.