Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball team has been picked to finish fourth in the American Southwest Conference’s West Division in the league’s annual Preseason Coaches and Media Poll. The Cru totaled 142 points and picked up four first-place votes in balloting of ASC West Division coaches, sports information directors and selected media representatives. Defending ASC West Division champion Texas Lutheran is picked to successfully defend that title after picking up 13 first-place votes and 174 total points. McMurry University was picked second with four first-place votes and 156 total points and Hardin-Simmons University was picked third with three first-place votes and 143 total points, just one point ahead of the Cru. Concordia Texas was picked fifth with 97 total points, Howard Payne University is the choice at #6 with 68 points, Schreiner University was picked seventh with 55 total points and Sul Ross State totaled 29 points as the choice to finish eighth.
Cru outfielder Joseph Villegas and right-handed pitcher Jared Hopper were named to the ASC West Division Players to Watch list. Villegas, a senior outfielder from Hays High School, is coming off a season in which he batted .465 with five triples, six home runs, 39 RBI and 19 stolen bases. Hopper, a junior from Northeast Christian High School, led the Cru with a 6-4 record and a 3.55 ERA. Hopper also struck out 94 batters in 83.2 innings of work. The Players to Watch list replaces the Divisional Preseason Player of the Year Awards this season.
Defending ASC champion U.T.-Tyler was picked to win the ASC East with eight first-place votes and 132 total points. Mississippi College, the team that eliminated UMHB from the postseason in each of the last two seasons, is picked second with 10 first-place votes and 131 total points.
The Cru will return 24 letter winners, seven starting position players and six pitchers from a team that finished 22-17 overall and 12-9 in ASC play last season. The UMHB baseball team advanced to the ASC Championship Tournament for the third straight year before falling to Mississippi College in the first round of the tournament. The Cru will open the 2010 season with a road non-conference game against Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie at 7:00 PM on February 2nd.