Posted: Feb 28, 2018

CCC Pre-season Coaches' Poll: Baseball No. 1

Two-time defending champion Salve Regina picked to three-peat.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Two-time defending Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Baseball Tournament Champion Salve Regina University earned eight first place votes to claim the top spot in the 2018 CCC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll. Voting was completed last week by the league's nine baseball head coaches.

Head coach Eric Cirella's Seahawk team had unprecedented success last season, earning the most single-season wins in school history to earn a national ranking for the first time. Back on the diamond are seven players who have earned All New England honors over the past two seasons, including Jimmy Fitzgerald (Canton, Mass.), who struck out 73 batters in just 52 1/3 innings while only allowing 31 hits.

The already solid lineup will get a boost from Tristan Dacey (Wyckoff, N.J.) who hit .343 and led the CCC in home runs as a freshman, but sat out all of last season. His presence gives the team a much-needed long ball threat in the middle of the lineup to drive in runs for the aggressive offense. Cirella, who presented at the World Baseball Coaches' Convention at the Mohegan Sun in January, will continue with his offensive philosophy of putting pressure on the defense. His senior class is loaded with experienced veterans including captains John Militano (Miller Place, N.Y), Christian Vargas (Melbourne, Fla.), and Jonathan Lynch (Cumberland, R.I.). That trio is joined by junior Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.) who will be in his second season as a captain. It's hard to believe that 2015 All-American Alex Perry (North Attleboro, Mass.) is now a senior.

The Seahawks earned 79 points in the poll after going 14-2 in the CCC (36-12 overall). Salve Regina was the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and emerged out of its three-team pod, which also included No. 4 seed Curry and No. 5 seed Nichols, to gain a spot in the CCC Championship Series. The Seahawks swept the best-of-three series with 12-2 and 8-2 wins over No. 2 seed Endicott to capture the CCC Tournament Championship.

Salve Regina was selected to participate in the 2017 NCAA Division III Baseball New England Regional as the conference's automatic qualifier. The CCC Champions went 2-2 in the double-elimination tournament with wins over Penn State-Berks and Arcadia.

CCC baseball teams get their seasons started this week with Gordon visiting Salem State being the first game on the schedule. The first day of conference doubleheaders is Saturday, March 24. The top six teams in the 2018 regular-season conference standings will qualify for the CCC Championship Tournament, which starts with double-elimination pod play on Thursday, May 3. The winners of the two three-team pods will advance to the CCC Championship Series on Friday-Saturday, May 11-12. The winner of the best-of-three series will be named the CCC Tournament Champion will earn the conference's automatic qualifier in to the 2018 NCAA Baseball Championship.

Click HERE to view the whole 2018 CCC baseball schedule.