University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldog Nine Picked 11th in BSC Preseason Poll
01.26.2012 | Baseball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) - For the fifth consecutive year, Coastal Carolina University's baseball team has been voted the Big South Conference's preseason favorite by the League's Head Baseball Coaches, it was announced this week by the Conference office. In addition, the coaches voted Presbyterian sophomore catcher/first baseman Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) the Conference's Preseason Player of the Year and Coastal Carolina junior Josh Conway (Smithsburg, Md.) the League's Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
Coastal was the near-unanimous selection to win the Big South crown in 2012, as the Chants received 10 of the 11 first-place votes and finished with 120 out of a possible 121 total points. Coastal Carolina is coming of its fifth consecutive Big South Championship (League record) and NCAA Tournament berth. Led by 17-year head coach Gary Gilmore -- the Big South's second-winningest baseball coach with a record of 650-324 ( =66.7 percent), the Chanticleers went 42-20 overall and 20-7 in Conference play in 2011. Liberty was second in the preseason poll with 98 points and received the remaining first-place vote. Radford was picked third with 97 points -- the Highlanders' highest position in the preseason ranking since being picked third in 1996. Winthrop finished fourth in the voting with 76 points, while Gardner-Webb, last season's Tournament Runner-up, was chosen fifth with 66 points. Charleston Southern landed in the sixth spot with 65 points, just one point ahead of seventh-place VMI (64). High Point garnered eighth-place (59 points), followed by Campbell (ninth, 31 points), Presbyterian College (10th, 30 points) and UNC Asheville (11th, 20 points). PC is eligible for the League's regular-season championship but not the Conference tournament due to its final year of transitioning to Division I.
The Bulldogs went 15-37 last year and 7-20 in the Big South Conference. Third-year head coach Tom Smith is looking to be better than last year and finish higher than where was Asheville was selected in the preseason poll.
"Preseason polls are just something to talk about before the season starts," commented Smith. "We've had a great fall and everyone has worked hard to get better. We're anxious to prove the experts wrong. It's not where you're picked it's where you finish. We plan to be finish a little higher than where we're picked."
Asheville opens the 2012 season on the road at North Carolina Central the weekend of Feb. 17-19. The Bulldogs first home game will be at Greenwood Field on Feb. 25 against St. Peters.
