ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Mount Union baseball team, under the guidance of 30th-year head coach Paul Hesse, is receiving votes in the 2026 D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason Top 25 poll.

Hesse led Mount Union to an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Regular Season Championship, the No. 1 seed in the 2025 OAC Tournament, and the first NCAA Tournament win in program history last season. Additionally, the Purple Raiders hosted the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. This was Mount Union's second OAC Regular Season Title since 1970 and its first since 2017. 
 
The Purple Raiders are scheduled to open the 2026 season on Friday, Feb. 13, at Randolph-Macon in Ashland, Va.