RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - Arkansas Tech baseball has been picked to finish third in the 2018 Great American Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, the league office announced Wednesday. The Wonder Boys are coming off a 34-21 record last season, including a 24-9 mark in conference play to finish second in the regular season standings.

Arkansas Tech earned 102 total points in the vote, just behind second-place Oklahoma Baptist (109). Southern Arkansas, the 2017 GAC regular season champions, were picked to win the conference with nine first-place votes.

Arkansas-Monticello was picked fourth in the poll with 89 points, followed by Henderson State with 84 points. Southwestern Oklahoma (67) took sixth, Southeastern Oklahoma (57) was voted seventh, and Harding (56) came in eighth. Ouachita (35), Northwestern Oklahoma (31), East Central (30) and Southern Nazarene (13) rounded out the poll.

The Wonder Boys opened GAC play last season with a 17-0 win over Southwestern Oklahoma, their largest win since 2015. The victory sparked a nine-game conference win streak, the most consecutive conference wins to begin a season in the program's 105-year history. Tech took two of three games from both Oklahoma Baptist and first-place Southern Arkansas, followed by a series victory over Harding to claim the two-seed for the conference tournament.

Arkansas Tech returns all-region selection from last season in Dylan McDearmon, as well as All-GAC Honorable Mention Cody Wescott. Seven of nine players from Tech's starting lineup in 2017 return for this season, but the Wonder Boys will have to replace three primary starters on the mound.

Arkansas Tech opens the 2018 season on Thursday, Feb. 1, in Grand Prairie, Texas, as part of the Airhog Division II Classic. The Wonder Boys open Great American Conference play in Russellville on Friday, Feb. 16, against Southwestern Oklahoma.