Under the direction of Coach Jim Brady (front), the UMSL Tritons baseball team will start the 2013 season ranked 30th nationally by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

Coming off its best season since 2004, the University of Missouri–St. Louis baseball team is hoping for an encore in 2013. They’re being picked to do just that, according to Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s NCAA Division II Preseason Poll that ranked the UMSL Tritons No. 30 nationally.

The Tritons won 24 of their final 31 games last year to finish with a 32-21 record. UMSL also posted a 20-14 mark in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, earning its first GLVC Tournament berth since 2004. The University of Indianapolis is the only GLVC team to rank higher than UMSL in the 2013 preseason poll.

Under the direction of Jim Brady, entering his 28th season as head coach, UMSL will return nine starting position players and two starting pitchers.

The Tritons will open the 2013 campaign the weekend of March 1-3 at the Dunn Hospitality Tournament, hosted by Southern Indiana (Evansville).