Baseball Southern Conference

Western Carolina Picked to Win SoCon Baseball Crown

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Two-time defending regular-season Southern Conference champion Western Carolina has been picked to win the crown again in 2015 in balloting of the league’s media and nine head coaches.

The Catamounts, who went 37-18 overall and 20-6 in the SoCon last season, picked up three first-place votes and 58 points from the coaches, who could not vote for their own teams. WCU just edged Samford, which garnered three first-place votes of its own and 56 points in the poll. In the media poll, Western Carolina totaled 11 first-place votes and 137 points to outdistance runner-up Mercer, which grabbed three first-place votes and 124 points.

Western Carolina returns five position starters and one starting pitcher from last season’s squad, which won the 13th regular-season title in school history to match the SoCon record. Among those returners are Preseason Player of the Year Jacob Hoyle and fellow preseason all-conference selections Danny Bermudez and Bradley Strong.

Samford went 35-25 overall and 15-12 in SoCon play last year, reaching the SoCon Championship title game for the third time in four seasons. The Bulldogs return four position starters and two starting pitchers from that team and had five preseason all-conference selections, including 2014 SoCon Freshman of the Year Heath Quinn.

League newcomer Mercer, which went 38-17 overall and 18-9 in the Atlantic Sun Conference to finish second last season, brings back three starters and landed three players on the preseason All-SoCon squad, led by first-team starting pitcher Eric Nyquist.

The coaches picked Mercer to finish third with 55 points and two first-place votes, while UNCG finished fourth in the polling with 39 points and the remaining first-place vote. ETSU was tabbed fifth with 31 points, followed by Furman (28), The Citadel and Wofford (23 each) and VMI (11).

The media selected Samford third with 117 points and two first-place votes, with ETSU finishing fourth with 88 points. UNCG was picked fifth with 64 points, followed by The Citadel (59), Furman (53), Wofford (48) and VMI (30).

The 2015 season opens for all nine league teams on Friday, Feb. 13, with each team but VMI playing at home. This season’s SoCon Baseball Championship will take place at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston, S.C., from May 19-24 and will include all nine teams.

2015 Preseason Southern Conference Coaches Poll
Place    Team (1st-place votes)    Points
1.    Western Carolina (3)    58
2.    Samford (3)    56
3.    Mercer (2)    55
4.    UNCG (1)    39
5.    ETSU    31
6.    Furman    28
T7.  The Citadel    23
T7.  Wofford    23
9.    VMI    11


2015 Preseason Southern Conference Media Poll
Place    Team (1st-place votes)    Points
1.    Western Carolina (11)    137
2.    Mercer (3)    124
3.    Samford (2)    117
4.    ETSU    88
5.    UNCG    64
6.    The Citadel    59
7.    Furman    53
8.    Wofford    48
9.    VMI    30

-www.SoConSports.com-