PRAIRIE VIEW – After a thrilling run during the 2022 Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championship the Prairie View A&M baseball has been picked to finish third in the west of the SWAC preseason poll.

Alabama State was picked to finish in 1st place in the SWAC's Eastern Division. The Hornets tallied eight first-place points and 103 total points. Bethune-Cookman (2^nd), Florida A&M (3^rd), Jackson State (4^th), Alabama A&M (5^th), and Mississippi Valley State (6^th) round out the list of SWAC East Preseason selections.
 
Southern was tabbed to finish in 1^st place in the SWAC's Western Division. The Jaguars amassed eleven first-place votes and 109 total points. Grambling State (2^nd), Panthers (3^rd), Texas Southern (4^th), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (5^th), and Alcorn State (6^th) highlight the SWAC West Preseason selections.

PVAMU finished 2022 with a 30-27 overall record and 19-11 in conference play.  This was the first season that Prairie View A&M had a 30-win record under the reigns of head baseball coach Auntwan Riggins.

The Panthers will return 24 players from last season's team, six that were starting position players and seven pitchers.  The six include preseason SWAC selections Benjamin Ybarro and Zachary Trevino, who led the offense for the Panthers last season.  Both players were named to the Second All-Conference Preseason Team.  PV also welcomes 16 new faces to the program, of which four are freshmen.

Ybarro a native of Brookshire, Texas returns for his junior year.  He was second on the team averaging a .335-hitting average, while scoring 23 runs, on 58 hits, hitting in 40 players.  He also carried a team-high .929 fielding average.

After spending three years as a Panther Trevino prepares for his final season.  The graduate student was third on the team with a .333 hitting average but owned a .407 slugging percentage.  In the 51 games played, he had 162 at-bats, for 33 runs and 54 hits, he also batted in 36 players.

The Panthers get the season underway on Feb. 17 with a three-game event in the Cactus Jack HBCU Classic.  The weekend will consist of games versus Southwestern Athletic Conference foes Grambling at 11 a.m., on Friday, Texas Southern on February 18, for a 7 p.m. start, and a final game on Sunday, February 19 with a 3 p.m. beginning.

Keep up with all the latest news and information for PVAMU athletics by following pvpanthers.com as well as through Twitter via the PVAMU general sports account (@PVAMUPanthers). You can also follow along on Instagram.com/pvamupanthers.