MARIETTA, Ohio — D3baseball.com released its 2010 Preseason Top 25 this week, and the Marietta College baseball team was voted #14.

The D3baseball.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country and is published weekly. The first regular season Top 25 will be released on March 2. [Complete Poll]

The record four-time national champion Etta Express will begin practice on Sunday (Jan. 31) and open the season on March 6 when it takes on host Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. The doubleheader kicks off a nine-game spring break trip that also features five games in Abilene, Texas, and two more back in Memphis. [Complete Schedule] Marietta has 15 games slated against nine of the 59 teams mentioned in the poll, including four who received a ranking.

Marietta will be looking to replace seven graduated seniors from the 2009 team that finished runner-up in both the OAC regular season and the OAC Tournament as well as the NCAA Mideast Regional Tournament.

2009 All-Region and All-OAC designated hitter/catcher Chris Beatty (Seven Fields, Pa., Hampton), 2008 All-OAC catcher Dan Jones (Lima, Shawnee), 2007 All-Region and All-OAC pitcher Nate Eschbaugh (Marietta, Marietta) and outfielder Matt DeSico (Euclid, Euclid) will be asked to anchor the program this spring and provide the senior leadership that is a staple of the Marietta baseball program.

Defending champion St. Thomas (Minn.) sat atop the 2010 preseason poll. Rounding out the top 10 were #2 Wooster; #3 Kean (N.J.); #4 Eastern Connecticut State; #5 Trinity (Conn.); #6 Salisbury (Md.); #7 Chapman (Calif.); #8 Carthage (Wis.); #9 Shenandoah (Va.); and #10 Heidelberg.

Marietta recently learned that it will be one of eight hosts for the 2010 NCAA Division III Regional baseball tournament. The winners of each regional will advance to the NCAA Division III World Series May 26-June 1 in Grand Chute, Wis. [Regional Host Announcement]