ROME, Ga.  The USA South Athletic Conference baseball coaches released their preseason poll on Thursday afternoon, with Methodist selected to finish second, collecting 45 points and four first-place votes.
 
Head coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team in the balloting.
 
Greensboro College narrowly claimed the top spot in the poll, earning 46 points along with four first-place votes. Defending regular-season and tournament champions, Methodist finished just one point behind in second place, also receiving four first-place selections, setting the stage for what is expected to be a tightly contested race at the top of the conference standings.
 
N.C. Wesleyan University was picked to finish third with 35 points, followed by Brevard College in fourth with 29 points. Pfeiffer University rounded out the top five with 27 points.
 
Southern Virginia University placed sixth with 21 points, while William Peace University (14 points) and Mary Baldwin University (7 points) completed the preseason poll.
 
The 2026 USA South Baseball Tournament will once again be conducted exclusively on campus sites. The top-six seeded teams will advance to postseason play, beginning with two three-team, double-elimination tournaments held Thursday through Saturday, April 30–May 2. The winners of those two tournaments will then meet in a best-of-three championship series the following weekend, Friday–Saturday, May 8–9.