The Gannon baseball team has been predicted to finish fifth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division according to the league’s preseason coaches’ poll released Tuesday morning.

Mercyhurst is the favorite to win the PSAC West, capturing six of the seven first-place votes. Slippery Rock picked up the final first-place vote and finished second in the voting. California (Pa.), Indiana (Pa.) and Gannon completed the top five.

Four different teams earned first-place votes in a tight PSAC Eastern Division race. West Chester is the preseason favorite in the PSAC East. Shippensburg, Kutztown, East Stroudsburg and Millersville rounded out the top five. Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg also received two first-place votes. Mansfield secured the final first-place vote despite finishing last in the PSAC East predictions.

Gannon was ranked 11th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Regional Preseason Poll released last Friday. The Golden Knights finished 25-23 overall last season after back-to-back one-run losses at the 2012 PSAC Tournament. The program was making its first postseason appearance since the 1970 squad played in the NAIA Tournament.

Head coach Nate Cocolin‘s squad recorded its first winning season since 1985 and surpassed the previous year’s victory total by 10 games. In addition to producing the first-ever winning conference record (14-10) in school history, the Golden Knights set new school single-season records for overall victories (25) and conference wins (14).