Etta Express ranked 8th in preseason poll
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MARIETTA -- The Etta Express once again found themselves placed in top-10 preseason national rankings as the Pioneers are No. 8 in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) Preseason Top-25 released Wednesday.
Johns Hopkins racked up 17 of the 25 first place votes and is the preseason No. 1 team. The Blue Jays received 612 total points. Salisbury is ranked second with 525 points and one first place vote. OAC foe Baldwin Wallace is third receiving 518 points. Endicott (one first place vote, 499 points) and East Texas Baptist (484 points) round out the top five.
Defending national champion Lynchburg received five first-place votes, but only garnered 479 points to place sixth in the preseason poll. Shenandoah placed seventh with 456 points and Marietta received the eighth slot in the poll with 436 points.
The rest of the top 10 includes Wisconsin-LaCrosse (389 points) and Cortland (383).
Marietta posted a 37-13 record last spring and hosted the Super Regional round at Pioneer Park, but was bested by Misericordia in the three-game series. The Pioneers went 14-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and was the runner-up during the regular season and in the tournament championship.
The Etta Express will once again play one of the toughest schedules in the nation. Eight opponents on the 2024 schedule are ranked in the preseason poll including No. Salisbury, No. 3 Baldwin Wallace, No. 6 Lynchburg, No. 10 Cortland, No. 11 Misericordia, No. 16 Denison, No. 20 Christopher Newport, and No. 24 Eastern Connecticut.
Three others received votes in the poll including Washington & Jefferson, Wittenberg, and Webster.
Marietta opens the 2024 season at the D3 Showcase in North Carolina. The Pioneers play Cortland on Feb. 22, Christopher Newport on the Feb. 23, Lynchburg on the Feb. 24, and Salisbury on the Feb. 25.
The home opener is scheduled for March 15 when the Etta Express hosts the BSN Invitational. The Pioneers will battle Johnson and Wales with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.
Richter earns preseason All-American status
Marietta College junior second baseman Alex Richter was named to the D3baseball.com Preseason All-America team Tuesday. Richter was named to the third team.
Richter has been a mainstay at second base for the Etta Express the last two seasons. His career .966 fielding percentage has established Richter as one of the best defensive second basemen in the country.
Last season, Richter batted .377, second best on the team, and led the Pioneers with nine triples and 60 runs scored. He was second on the team with seven home runs. Richter earned a pair of All-American honors for his performance receiving third team recognition from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and fifth team accolades from D3baseball.com.
In addition to the All-American selections, Richter is a two-time first team All-Ohio Athletic Conference pick. He has also garnered four All-Region honors. In 2022 he was named first team All-Region by both the ABCA and D3baseball.com. Last year, Richter was ABCA first team and D3baseball.com second team All-Region.