UC San Diego Leads the Way in 2019 CCAA Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll
Video release
CALIFORNIA – Defending CCAA Tournament Champions and NCAA Championship Finals participants from a season ago, UC San Diego has been selected to rise to the top of the CCAA standings in 2019, as selected by the league’s 12 head coaches.
The Tritons (43-17, 30-14 CCAA) received nine first place votes in the polling and are poised to yet again compete to defend their back-to-back regional crowns. UC San Diego returns 20 men including 2018 All-CCAA first team selections Alex Eliopulos and Preston Mott and 2018 CCAA Freshman of the Year Shay Whitcomb. The Tritons are sure to miss the bat of last season’s Player of the Year and current San Francisco Giants prospect, Zander Clarke, but two-time ABCA West Region Coach of the Year Eric Newman always finds a way to retool and reload.
The next three spots in the prognostications are separated by a total of five points. Cal Poly Pomona lands in second with 104 votes and one first-place nod, followed by Cal State Monterey Bay’s tally of 102 with the remaining vote for the top spot in the league. Chico State lands in fourth with 99 total points.
Cal Poly Pomona (30-24, 25-19 CCAA), 2018 CCAA Tournament runners-up, narrowly missed the NCAA postseason field a year ago. The Broncos matriculated some of their top talents from that team in All-CCAA first team pick Nic Hernandez and second-team honorees Cody Martin and Ryan Alsworth, but the coaches have confidence that head coach Randy Betten’s team will remain a force in the CCAA and return to their sixth-straight conference postseason.
Led by 2018 CCAA Coach of the Year Walt White, Cal State Monterey Bay (39-18, 30-14 CCAA) is hungry to again rise to the top of the pack, after claiming the No. 1 seed in the CCAA bracket a season ago. The Otters placed five on the All-CCAA first team last year, but four of those men were seniors as outfielder TJ Dove remains the lone holdover from the selections. Last season’s campaign ended with Cal State Monterey Bay tying the school record for most wins in program history and bowing out of the NCAA West Regional on the third day of action.
Slated for a fourth-place finish, the ever-consistent Chico State Wildcats (31-24, 26-18 CCAA) are coming off their 18th NCAA Championship Tournament appearance in the last 23 years, and third consecutive. Last year’s berth came after winning 14 of their 20 final conference contests to battle back from early-season adversity to secure a spot in the CCAA Tournament and eventually ride the surge to the NCAA postseason brackets.
The group of Cal State LA (75 points), San Francisco State (64), Sonoma State (63) and Cal State East Bay (49) round out the top eight. Should the prediction ring true, the 2019 brackets would be filled by the same six teams from a season ago and the group would converge again on Banner Island Ballpark, home of the Stockton Ports, May 8-11 for the 2019 CCAA Baseball Tournament. The six-team double-elimination tournament winner earns the CCAA’s automatic qualification into the NCAA Division II Baseball West Region Tournament.
Stanislaus State is nipping at the heels of the Pioneers, compiling 45 points, with Cal State San Marcos (26), Cal State San Bernardino (25) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (21) rounding out the coaches’ selections.
Eight teams take to the diamond for the first time in 2019 this Friday, with Cal State San Bernardino starting the season Saturday. Cal State LA joins the mix on Monday, Feb. 4, with San Francisco State and Sonoma State set for action Feb. 5.
| 2019 CCAA Baseball Preseason Coaches’ Poll |
| Pl. |
Team |
Points (1st place votes) |
| 1. |
UC San Diego |
119 (9) |
| 2. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
104 (2) |
| 3. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
102 (1) |
| 4. |
Chico State |
99 |
| 5. |
Cal State LA |
75 |
| 6. |
San Francisco State |
64 |
| 7. |
Sonoma State |
63 |
| 8. |
Cal State East Bay |
49 |
| 9. |
Stanislaus State |
45 |
| 10. |
Cal State San Marcos |
26 |
| 11. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
25 |
| 12. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
21 |