Conference Carolinas

Mount Olive Number One in Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll

1/22/2014 12:00:00 AM

 

High Point, NC – Conference Carolinas Baseball Coaches have voted the University Mount Olive as the baseball team to beat team coming into the 2014 season.

Mount Olive is ranked No. 5 in both the 2014 Collegiate Baseball Preseason Top 40 and the 2014 College Baseball Lineup Preseason Top 30. The Trojans posted a 48-8 record last season and hosted the NCAA Division II Baseball Southeast Regional for the third consecutive year. Mount Olive spent six weeks at No. 1 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll during the 2013 regular season.

The Trojans return starting pitcher Alex Regan, who posted a 14-1 record last year and tied for first in the nation in wins. Regan was a consensus All-America, earning All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), College Sports Information Directors of America (Daktronics All-America Team) and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

Outfielder/designated hitter Bradon Reitano was named to the 2013 Rawlings/ABCA All-America First Team and the 2013 NCBWA All-America First Team. Reitano ranked among the top six in the nation last year with 65 runs scored and 62 runs batted in. He batted .361 with 10 home runs, including two grand slams.

Trojan head coach Carl Lancaster was named 2013 Conference Carolinas Baseball Coach of the Year, winning the award for the 11th time. Lancaster is entering his 27th season.

King University has been selected second in the poll, a season after finishing second to Coker College in the Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Tornado return a plethora of experience, including 19 seniors for the 2014 campaign. Head coach Blaine Brown has guided the Tornado back-to-back 30-win seasons in each of his first two at the helm.     

All-conference performers, and seniors, Tyler Gaby, Garrett Cook and Corey Rhodes all return for Brown in 2014. Gaby and Cook should pace the offense while Rhodes should lead the veteran pitching staff that returns their top-3 starters. Gaby led King with a .344 batting average while fellow outfielder posted team-highs of 13 doubles, eight home runs and 14 stolen bases while hitting .316. Rhodes led the Tornado pitching staff with an earned run average of 3.65, going 4-1 in 13 appearances. Reiss Stanley and Alexander Gonzalez join Rhodes in the rotation after stellar junior campaigns.

"With amount of experience returning, we feel confident we can build off of last year's success," Brown said. "Our tough nonconference schedule will hope to prepare us for the rigors of the Conference Carolinas season."

The Belmont Abbey baseball team was picked to finish third in the preseason coaches poll as the Crusaders welcome first year head coach Chris Anderson, who was hired in August after serving as an assistant at Lander University for three years.

Anderson, who was an Abbey assistant from 2005-2009, welcomes back four all-conference selections from last year’s 27-17-1 unit. Pitcher Cody Stull, shortstop Ian Vazquez, DH/catcher Michael Falsetti and leftfielder Anthony Dimino were all second-team selections. The Crusaders return their top four hitters from a year ago, including Vazquez, Falsetti and Dimino. Stull returns as the Abbey’s leader on the pitching staff, as he posted a 6-4 record with a 3.52 ERA.

Erskine finished fourth in the poll with Pfeiffer fifth followed by Limestone, North Greenville and Barton College respectively rounding-out the poll standings.

Conference Carolinas Baseball Pre-Season Poll     

(# of First Place Votes in Parenthesis)