ETSU picked third in Southern Conference baseball poll

Defending Southern Conference champion East Tennessee State was picked third in the Southern Conference preseason baseball poll. Coming off a season when they won 41 games and swept the SoCon regular-season and tournament championships, the Bucs were picked behind Samford and Mercer. The rest of the order consisted of The Citadel, Western Carolina, UNC Greensboro, VMI and Wofford. VMI first baseman Grayson Fitzwater was named Preseason Player of the Year, Samford's Mason Blasche was Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Five ETSU players were named all-conference selections. Pitchers Michael Harpster and Derek McCarley, along with outfielder Jamie Palmese, were named to the first team. Another pitcher, Tristan Curless, and outfielder Alex Melendez were second-team selections. Harpster, a junior right-hander, went 7-3 last season with a 4.34 earned run average and 69 strikeouts. McCarley, a senior left-hander, made 21 appearances, mainly as a reliever last season. He had a 3-1 record with a 3.30 ERA. He had 41 strikeouts in 43.2 innings pitched. Palmese, an All-SoCon First Team selection, started all 58 games in centerfield for the Bucs last season. He hit .297 with 17 home runs and 51 RBI as a sophomore. Palmese had 20 multi-hit games, stole 15 bases in 16 attempts, and scored 58 runs. Curless, a senior, native played in 50 games during his first season at ETSU hitting .280 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI. He also made six appearances as a pitcher for ETSU in 2025. Curless was one of five Buccaneers to hit 10 or more home runs in 2025. Melendez, last season's SoCon Freshman of the Year, hit .304 with six home runs and 37 RBI. He scored 31 runs, added 13 doubles to go with a pair of triples. ETSU opens its season next Friday, Feb. 13 when it hosts Marist in the first game of a three-game series.