DALLAS, Texas – The Cortland Red Dragons, with 12 first place votes, edged out the Chapman Panthers to take to top spot in the 2009 NCBWA/D3baseball.com Preseason Top 25. Cortland (42-5 in 2008) is coming off a season that included a school-record 38-game winning streak and is looking to extend their string of 16 consecutive NCAA Division III tournament berths.

Seniors Wayde Kitchens and Patrick Ohail have returned to lead the second ranked Chapman Panthers (40-5). The Panthers, who received four first place votes, has their goal of returning to the championship round for the fifth straight year. Ranked third with seven first place votes are the 2008 National Champions, Trinity Bantams (45-1). Trinity (Conn.), who came with in one game of an undefeated season, return 2009 D3baseball.com Preseason All Americans Sean Killeen and Jeremiah Bayer.

UW-Whitewater (42-10) and Johns Hopkins (42-8) round out the top five. Both the Warhawks and Blue Jays received a single first place vote in the initial Top 25 for the 2009 season. Championship Cinderella, Adrain (36-13) joins Kean (39-11), Heidelberg (41-10), Salisbury (41-4), and Southern Maine (36-14) in the top 10.  

The complete 2009 Preseason Top 25 is below:
First Place Votes are in parenthesis.
1. Cortland State (12)
2. Chapman (4)
3. Trinity (Conn.) (7)
4. UW-Whitewater (1)
5. Johns Hopkins (1)
6. Adrian
7. Kean
8. Heidelberg
9. Salisbury
10. Southern Maine
11. Wooster
12. Texas-Tyler
13. Eastern Connecticut
14. Linfield
15. St. Scholastica
16. Illinois Wesleyan
17. Marietta
18. St. Thomas
19. Wheaton (Mass.)
20. Lynchburg
21. Thiel
22. RPI
23. UW-Oshkosh
24. Carthage
25. Augustana

Also receiving votes: Rowan, Webster, Pacific Lutheran, Calvin, Keene State, Piedmont, Trinity (Texas), New Jersey, Redlands, La Verne, Wheaton (Ill.), George Fox, Randolph-Macon, Christopher Newport, Ithaca, St. Olaf, Emory, Hardin-Simmons, North Carolina Wesleyan, UW-Stevens Point, Aurora, DeSales, Penn State-Behrend, McMurry, Montclair State, Millsaps, Beloit, Transylvania, Virginia Wesleyan, Ohio Wesleyan, Ripon, Simpson.