SELINSGROVE, PA – The Susquehanna University baseball team has been picked to finish fifth in the annual Commonwealth Conference preseason coaches' poll, the conference office announced Wednesday.

The Crusaders finished fifth in the Commonwealth Conference last season with a 10-11 record and posted a 12-21-1 overall mark for head coach Denny Bowers, who was named conference Coach of the Year in his first season at the helm of his alma mater.

Junior Brian Ahearn is the team's top returning hitter as he was a second-team All-Conference choice last season after hitting .402 with 12 doubles and 12 runs batted in, while senior Eric Damm paces the pitching staff following a season in which he went 4-2 with a 4.39 earned run average in eight starts, including two nine-inning complete games.

Widener received four of eight first-place votes and took the top spot in the survey with 46 points, followed by defending champion Elizabethtown (three first-place votes, 44 points), Juniata (one first-place vote, 37 points), Lebanon Valley (27 points), Susquehanna (23 points), Albright and Messiah (20 points apiece) and Moravian (seven points).