NEW YORK | This time last year, the Skyline Conference’s 11 baseball coaches forecast a three-peat for St. Joseph’s-Long Island in the annual preseason poll.

That did indeed come to fruition in 2024.  

This time around, the back-to-back-to-back champs are back-to-back-back favorites to repeat in the Skyline Conference for a fourth time. The league’s skippers have once again selected the now three-time defending champions first in preseason poll voting.

Tom Caputo’s Golden Eagles received nine first-place votes and 99 points overall in the 2025 edition of the poll.
Despite the overwhelming confidence in the Golden Eagles dynasty, amongst the prognosticators, Farmingdale State, the conference runner up from a season ago, is still very much in the conversation on paper in the polling, receiving 90 total points to register in second, while also garnering two first-place votes of its own.

No surprise there. The Golden Eagles had to beat FSC twice on championship Sunday to claim their third straight Skyline title (pictured below). The Golden Eagles forced a second game with a 12-5 victory in a must-win game one before walking off with a 9-8 victory and the title in game two.
 
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (78), Maritime (72) and Purchase (60) round out the top five, respectively. Old Westbury (54) narrowly edged Manhattanville (52), finishing sixth in the polling results (teams are not permitted to vote for themselves), which would place them in the six-team playoff field come the end of the season.

The 2025 Skyline Conference Baseball Championship gets underway with single-elimination, opening-round play on campus sites on Wednesday, May 7. The four-team, double-elimination portion of the tourney will take place May 9-11, with the victor earning the Skyline's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.

2025 Skyline Conference Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll

Pl., Team (2024 Record, 2024 Conference Record), Pts. (first-place votes)

1. St. Joseph's-Long Island (33-14, 18-2 Skyline), 99 (9 first-place votes)
2. Farmingdale State (24-15, 13-7), 90 (2) 
3. USMMA (27-16, 15-5), 78
4. Maritime (26-13, 14-6), 72 
5. Purchase (20-20, 12-8), 60 
6. Old Westbury (14-20, 9-11), 54
7. Manhattanville (20-21, 11-9), 52
8. Mount Saint Vincent (16-21, 10-10), 38
9. Mount Saint Mary (11-29, 5-15), 31
10. St. Joseph's-Brooklyn (8-28, 3-17), 21
11. Yeshiva (0-26, 0-20), 10