Azusa Pacific has been ranked No.14 in the preseason National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, and Tido Robles and Spencer Rasmussen were named to the NCBWA Division II West Region Preseason team.

The Cougars enter 2023 with a national ranking after they went 38-19 overall and the program made its fifth-consecutive postseason appearance, where Azusa Pacific finished as the West region runner-up under first year head coach Kirk Nieuwenhuis. From last years' squad, 33 players return, including 12 starters. 

"Our team is extremely excited to get going on the tough schedule ahead of us," said Coach Nieuwenhuis, "The PacWest is always one of the best conferences in the country and we have three top-notch non-conference opponents on the schedule this year as well.  We are looking forward to the challenge ahead and are excited to compete and grow together as a team in 2023."

Robles, the Cougars' third baseman, is coming off of a junior campaign last season in which he hit for a .311 batting average and was named a Second Team All-Region and All-PacWest performer. He started all 57 games for Azusa Pacific, and he led the PacWest in RBI (63) and home runs (19), and he was fourth in slugging (.609). Robles turned in a multi-hit performance in 21 games, and he had 18 games of two or more RBI. 

Rasmussen, who serves as the Cougars' DH and also plays at first, was recognized on the preseason team after he finished last season with a batting average of .300, tallying 16 home runs, 49 RBI, a slugging percentage of .632 and an OPS of 1.013. Rasmussen finished the season ranked among the top performers in the PacWest in SLG% (3rd), home runs (3rd), RBI (4th) and OPS (8th).

Opening day for Azusa Pacific is a little over a week away, as the Cougars will host one of the West region's top teams, as Cal State Monterey Bay visits Azusa for a four-game series starting on Thursday, February 2 at the Cougar Baseball Complex. The Cougars will open the season ranked second in the NCBWA West Region Preseason poll, with Azusa Pacific earning two first place votes, while last year's PacWest Champions, Point Loma, sit atop the preseason rankings with 12 first-place votes. Cal State Monterey Bay is right behind the Cougars at No. 3. To view the entire 2023 schedule for the Cougars, click here, and to check out the roster, click here.