TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology baseball team has been picked to finish 4th in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference this spring, in the coaches preseason poll released by the league office on Wednesday.

Franklin College was picked to repeat as champions with 79 poll points and 7 of the 10 first-place votes. Transylvania picked up 70 points and 2 first-place votes, and Anderson narrowly edged out Rose-Hulman with 63 poll points and the final first-place vote. Rose-Hulman ended with 62 poll points in fourth place.

Earlham (43), Bluffton (39), Hanover (34), Manchester (33), Mount St. Joseph (17), and Defiance (10) rounded out the poll.

The Fightin' Engineers finished 23-21 overall and 13-9 in conference play in 2023. They won a pair of games in the HCAC tournament before bowing out. 

Rose-Hulman Players to Watch according to the preseason release are Colter Couillard-Rodak, Ian Kline, Kade Kline, and Michael Yager. Kade Kline and Yager each earned all-HCAC honors in 2023.

Rose-Hulman opens the 2024 baseball season with a 3-game series at Emory on February 24 and 25.