BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins baseball team has been ranked No. 11 in the D3Baseball.com Preseason Poll, as released Tuesday. The ranking marks the first time in program history the Blue Jays have been tabbed No. 11 in the preseason poll and is their lowest preseason placement since 2023, when Hopkins received votes but did not crack the top 25.
 
Hopkins returns two starters from a season ago in which the Blue Jays made their seventh appearance at the NCAA Division III World Series. The returning group is headlined by D3Baseball.com Preseason Third Team All-American Grant Meert, along with Alex Shane and Jacob Harris, the only returners from last year's starting nine. The Blue Jays will feature a revamped pitching staff led by Kieren Collins with the field being bolstered by graduate transfers William Jaun, Logan Scully and Dylan Zucker. Coming off the second-highest win total in program history (44), Hopkins will look to make its fifth College World Series appearance since 2019 under first-year head coach Nate Mulberg.
 
Reigning national champion UW–Whitewater claimed the top spot in the poll with 18 first-place votes and 598 points. Endicott (three first-place votes, 577 points), Denison (528), Kean (one first-place vote, 515) and Salisbury (452) rounded out the top five. Lynchburg (one first-place vote, 439 points), Salve Regina (one first-place vote, 414) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (one first-place vote, 387) also received first-place votes, ranking sixth, 10^th and 12^th, respectively.
 
The Blue Jays open the 2026 season exactly one month from now, hosting Rutgers–Newark on Friday, February 20. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Babb Field at Stromberg Stadium.