SAINT PAUL, Minn.: The UW-Superior baseball team has been picked to finish third in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, according to a preseason poll of league head coaches, released Thursday.
 
The Yellowjackets received 48 points, and, for the first time since joining the UMAC for the 2016 season, a first-place vote. 
 
UWS, which welcomes back three All-UMAC honorees from last season, went 12-26 overall and 9-9 in the UMAC. Under the direction of third-year head coach Frank Pufall, Superior looks to challenge both Bethany Lutheran and St. Scholastica for the conference title in 2019. The Vikings and Saints were tied atop the poll with 60 points, splitting the remaining eight first-place votes evenly. 
 
Catcher Cory Albertson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area), the 2018 UMAC Player of the Year, is back for his junior season after posting monster numbers. He led the UMAC in batting average (.411), hits (51), home runs (13), RBIs (42) and slugging percentage (.847). Both a D3baseball.com and ABCA All-Region pick, last season, Albertson led the nation in home runs per game (0.38).
 
Also returning to the 'Jackets is senior third baseman and right-handed pitcher Braeden Barr (San Diego, Calif./Grossmount). An All-UMAC first team pick last year, Barr hit .352 with 37 hits, three doubles and five home runs. He posted a 2-1 record on the mound with a 7.36 ERA in 25.2 innings. Barr registered one complete game, scattering five hits over seven innings to beat Northland, 14-2, in the UMAC tournament on May 10.
 
Senior outfielder Matthew Boyde (Chanhassen, Minn./Minnetonka) is back after earning All-UMAC honorable mention recognition in 2018. Boyde compiled a .385 batting average – the eighth best in the league – with 47 hits, nine doubles, three triples and seven home runs. He slugged .680 and had 14 multiple-hit games and nine multi-RBI games last season.
 
Northwestern (43 points), Minnesota Morris (37) and Northland (26) make up the middle three schools in the poll. North Central with 22 points, Crown with 19 and Martin Luther with nine round out the voting.
 
The 'Jackets open the season March 16 in the Tucson Invitational Games with a doubleheader against Marian beginning at 3 p.m., at Kino Sports Complex.