Three straight trips to CCC finals boosts Seahawks to No. 2 spot in coaches' poll
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Defending Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) baseball tournament champion Western New England earned 63 points, including seven first-place votes to earn the top spot in the 2019 CCC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll. Voting was completed last week by the league's eight baseball head coaches.
The Golden Bears look to defend their title after winning the CCC Tournament last year and automatically qualifying for the NCAA Baseball Championship. Western New England finished as the No. 3 seed during the regular season last spring with a conference record of 11-5 (32-13 overall). It then managed to go undefeated during tournament play, winning all five of its games in the league championship.
Salve Regina University comes in as the second place team in this year's preseason rankings with 54 points and one first place vote. The Seahawks finished as the tournament runner-up, after losing the first two games to Western New England in the best-of-three CCC Championship Series. They finished the regular season as the top seed in the tournament, with a conference record of 12-4 (25-15 overall).
Endicott was voted third with 49 points, while Roger Williams finished fourth with 39 points. Gordon finishes out the top five with 29 points.
Nichols (25 points), Wentworth (18) and Curry, (11), finished out the rest of the poll.
The first baseball game of the season for a CCC team is on Feb. 22 with both Salve Regina and Endicott in non-conference action.
2019 CCC Baseball Pre-season Coaches' Poll
- Western New England 63 (7)
- Salve Regina 54 (1)
- Endicott 49
- Roger Williams 39
- Gordon 29
- Nichols 25
- Wentworth 18
- Curry 11
Eric Cirella's Seahawks return an eight-member senior class that has advanced to the conference championship each of its first three years. Three of the elder Seahawks – Colton Eremian (Boca Raton, Fla.), Will Ginsberg (Sharon, Mass.), and Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.) – were All-CCC performers last season and will serve as captains along with current juniors and two-time league honorees, Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) and Patrick Maybach (Saunderstown, R.I.).
Ketch (team-highs 55 hits, .481 OBP) and Maybach (62.2 IP, 11.06 K/9) were also selected to the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Coaches Association (NEIBA) All-New England Team; that's twice in two years for the starting pitcher.
Salve Regina's patient approach at the plate led to 195 bases on balls, two shy of the program's all-time mark set in 1996, while the pitchers dominated with a school-best 9.66 strikeouts per nine innings. Brett Wilkes (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) had four saves in 11 appearances as the Seahawk bullpen closed off nine games successfully in 2018.