ASHEVILLE, N.C.?UNC Asheville's baseball team was picked sixth by Big South Coaches and Sports Information Directors in the annual preseason poll released by the Conference Office.
The Bulldogs finished sixth last season with a 22-38 overall record and return both of their top pitchers for 2008. Alan DeRatt and Graham Baughn will anchor the rotation. DeRatt was 5-4 with a 4.54 ERA while Baughn went 7-5 with a 4.74 ERA.
Asheville also returns centerfielder Kevin Mattison and first basemen Elliott Arrington. Mattison has led the Big South in triples in each of the last two seasons and is coming off a very strong summer. Arrington is a career .323 hitter who struggled at times last season but is Asheville's career hits leader.
Asheville fans will need to by a program because the Bulldogs will have 20 new faces on this year's team. Amoung the newcomers are junior college transfers Kevin Wiedenbacher and Reed Kreiser.
“Preseason polls are usually a reflection of what happened last season,” said Asheville head coach Willie Stewart. “We have so many new players that no one the league knows what to expect from us. I like the guys we have brought in and I like the arms we are brining back. I expect us to do a little better than sixth this year but I can understand why we are picked there.”
Defending conference champion, Coastal Carolina is picked to repeat. The Chanticleers have preseason player of the year David Sappelt and preseason pitcher of the year Bobby Gagg. Coastal is picked as high as 19th in the national preseason polls.
VMI is picked second just one vote ahead of third place Liberty. Winthrop was picked fourth with 88 points, while High Point finished fifth in the voting with 61 points. UNC Asheville received 56 points for sixth-place, while Charleston Southern and Radford tied for seventh-place in the preseason poll with 25 points each.
The Bulldogs open the season at Greenwood Field on Feb. 22, against Presbyterian at 2 p.m.
