The Grand Valley State University baseball team, which finished third at the 2013 NCAA Division II Baseball National Finals, is expected to be in contention again this season and has been ranked among the top seven teams in the country by several major publications.

GVSU was given a No. 5 national ranking by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), a No. 6 ranking in the College Baseball Newspaper and D2BaseballNews.com, and a No. 7 spot in the CBLineup.com rankings.

The NCBWA also tabbed GVSU as the pre-season favorite to win the Midwest Region.

Senior first baseman Giancarlo Brugnoni was named a pre-season First Team All-American, and was also listed on the pre-season All-Midwest Region First Team along with junior second baseman Kevin Zak, junior outfielder Jamie Potts and sophomore pitcher Patrick Kelly.