Baseball | 2/24/2010 11:10:27 AM

ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT baseball team was picked to finish third in the 2010 Empire 8 Baseball Preseason Coaches poll, released on Wednesday.  The Tigers, who finished second in the conference with a 9-7 mark, received 10 points, including one first place vote in the preseason poll. RIT was narrowly edged out by Ithaca and St. John Fisher for the top spot in the preseason poll.

RIT finished the 2009 season with five consecutive wins and eight wins in nine games, going 19-20 overall.  Senior outfielder Geoff Dornes (Landsville, PA/Hempfield) was named Empire 8 Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008, and has earned first-team honors in each of his first three seasons. He hit .366 a year ago and led the team with 49 hits, 33 runs scored, nine doubles and four triples. Dornes, who is just three hits shy of becoming the all-time leader at the school, also posted a 3.10 earned run average in 58 innings on the mound.

The Tigers return seven players who earned All-Empire 8 honors in 2009.

RIT opens the 2010 campaign on March 1 against St. John's (MN) in Phoenix, Arizona.

2010 Empire 8 Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Ithaca (3 first-place votes) - 14 points
2. St. John Fisher - 12
3. RIT (1) - 10
    Stevens (1) -  10
4. Utica - 4