Contact: Houston Taylor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Southern Arkansas was an almost unanimous selection as the preseason favorite to win the inaugural Great American Conference baseball championship, receiving seven first-place votes in the coaches’ poll released this week. The Muleriders also received one vote to finish second.
SAU totaled 63 points to gain the top spot in the preseason GAC poll. They’ll begin the 2012 season ranked 22nd in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (CBN) division II coaches’ poll and are 12th in the College Baseball Lineup top 30 poll. Southern Arkansas went 36-16 a year ago, claiming its third Gulf South Conference championship and advancing to the NCAA Division II regional tournament in Pensacola, Fla., its fourth consecutive region appearance and sixth overall.
Harding received the remaining two first-place votes in the poll for 54 points and just narrowly edged out Southeastern Oklahoma State’s 53 points for second. The Bisons also received two votes for second and four for third. They went 42-13 in 2011 and joined the Muleriders in the NCAA region tournament. Harding begins the season ranked 28th in the CBN preseason poll.
Southeastern Oklahoma State garnered five second-place votes and three for third in placing third in the poll. They are ranked 36th in the CBN poll, coming off a 2011 season in which they won the Lone Star Conference championship and finished 35-19.
Arkansas Tech (43 points) is picked fourth in the GAC poll, while Southwestern Oklahoma State (33) is fifth. Ouachita Baptist (24) is sixth, Arkansas-Monticello (22) seventh, Henderson State (21) is eighth, and East Central received 11 points to round out the nine-team league.
The GAC preseason poll is voted on by the league’s head coaches who are not allowed to vote for their own teams. No preseason all-conference teams were selected as it’s the league’s first year of existence.
SAU opens its season Feb. 4-5 in San Antonio, Texas, with a three-game series against Incarnate Word (Texas), which is ranked 26th in the preseason CBN poll and 13th in the College Baseball Lineup poll. They then return home to host their second annual Mulerider Classic, a three-day affair February 10-12 in which they’ll play four games, with their home-opener set for that Friday in a 5:30 p.m. game with Angelo State (Texas). They begin GAC play March 2-3 in Durant, Okla., at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
