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You are here: Home / Sports / Baseball picked 12th in Southland preseason polls
(Lauren Franco)

Baseball picked 12th in Southland preseason polls

February 14, 2017 by Trevor Wyatt

Ahead of the 2017 season baseball has been picked to finish 12th in both the Southland Conference Coaches’ poll and the Sports Information Director’s ballots. The pick is a one spot difference from last year, when ACU was picked 11th by both polls, and finished 12th, only above Incarnate Word, who is the only team below ACU this season.

Coach Britt Bonneau said that last season didn’t go as well as planned, but he hopes to build on last year’s young team.

“Obviously losing 22 games isn’t ideal in any situation,” Bonneau said. “And this year we have a lot of young players who we will be trying to find roles for: who will be pitching and who is starting, stuff like that. And we need to give guys experience, but it was nice that a lot of the freshman last year did get experience.”

The 2017 season starts off with a bang, as reigning Big Ten semi-finalist Michigan State visits Crutcher Scott field. The season doesn’t get much easier after that, playing some of the top teams in the nation in the last year of transitioning to Div. 1, including TCU, SFA, Creighton, Kansas State, Oregon State, and Dallas Baptist.

Bonneau said one of the top priorities this season was defense, and that was one of the main reasons they hired Greg Evans in the summer.

“Evans is really going to help our defense,” said Bonneau. “He’s doing something that needs to be done on this team, and I think it’ll be a thrill to have him help the team this year. I feel like our infield will improve drastically with his help, once we find everyone’s place.”

Even with a new coach and a tough schedule, players are still more excited than nervous, especially about the series against Michigan State.

“We are definitely excited,” said Mark Pearson, sophomore shortstop. “We know they’ll have a good team, but every team in college is good so we aren’t phased by that. We’ve worked really hard all off-season and are just excited to start playing games!

The season opener against Michigan State starts at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17 at Crutcher Scott Field.

Filed Under: Sports

Other Sports:

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  • Wildcats unable to grab win in battle against New Mexico State

  • Wildcats break four game losing streak with win over UT Arlington

About Trevor Wyatt

Trevor is a convergence journalism major at Abilene Christian University, with focuses in sports and music. His love of sports stems from 13 years of playing baseball. He has also played saxophone for 12 years, and is currently the manager of the Abilene Christian University Jazz Ensemble. Trevor is expected to graduate in the spring of 2018.

You are here: Home / Sports / Baseball picked 12th in Southland preseason polls

Other Sports:

  • GCU outlasts ACU in pulse-pounding conference matchup

  • Wildcats unable to grab win in battle against New Mexico State

  • Wildcats break four game losing streak with win over UT Arlington

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