COLUMBIA, S.C. – Despite a fourth-place finish in the SIAC East Division and an early exit from the SIAC Baseball Tournament, the Benedict College Tigers baseball team and staff will look back at the 2012 season as a positive rebuilding year.

The Tigers started the year with high expectations. They were ranked 10th in the NCBWA South Region preseason poll. Outfielder Elisha McDaniel was named a preseason All-American and first-team All-South Region by the NCBWA, while Michael Jordan was named preseason second team All-South Region. Christopher Moyé and pitcher Eric Cordova were named preseason first-team All-SIAC.

Cordova never pitched for the Tigers due to eligibility issues.

The Tigers won 20 games for the fourth consecutive year, going 20-17 overall, 10-10 in the SIAC for fourth place in the East Division. They went 0-2 in the SIAC Tournament for a seventh-place tournament finish.

The Tigers did have a 15-game winning streak before dropping 13 of their final 17 games.

Benedict stole 289 bases, leading all three NCAA divisions for the fourth consecutive year. The Tigers also set an NCAA record with 24 stolen bases in a single game. Benedict's average of 7.8 stolen bases per game also set an NCAA record.

Michael Jordan led the NCAA with 70 stolen bases and in stolen bases per game. Jordan was named the SIAC Utility Player of the Year and first-team All-SIAC.

First baseman David Weber won the SIAC individual batting title and was named first-team All-SIAC. As a team, the Tigers hit over .300 for the fourth consecutive year.

Senior pitcher John Walton led the staff with five wins and a 3.6 earned run average.

The Benedict baseball team was featured in The State newspaper Sunday sports section with a pair of features: "The Benedict Base Stealing Bandits" and " Build It They Will Come,” which told about the campus baseball field.

The Tigers made Benedict College history when they played Clafin on April 21, the final home series, at the campus field, which was built by players and staff.

Despite graduating seven seniors, the Tigers also had eight freshmen on the 2012 squad.