2017 Northwest Conference Baseball Pre-Season Coaches' Poll
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TEAM
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1STS
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PTS
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'16 NWC
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'16 ALL
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Whitworth University
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(7)
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70
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17-7
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30-13
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Pacific Lutheran University
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(1)
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57
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15-9
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29-19
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Linfield College
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(1)
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50
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14-10
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25-15
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George Fox University
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42
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14-10
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21-20
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Pacific University (Ore.)
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38
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14-10
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25-18
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Willamette University
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|
26
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11-13
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20-19
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University of Puget Sound
|
|
23
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11-13
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16-24
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Whitman College
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19
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8-16
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13-25
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Lewis & Clark College
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|
8
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4-20
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12-28
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(Points awarded on a 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches could not vote on their own teams.
NWC BASEBALL POLL: Whitworth Solid Choice to Repeat as Diamond Champs in 2017
HILLSBORO, Ore. – In what promises to be another competitive baseball race in the Northwest Conference, Whitworth University has emerged as the favorite to win a second consecutive title in 2017, according to a pre-season poll of the league's nine coaches as announced by the conference office Tuesday afternoon.
Whitworth received seven votes for first place and 70 total points in the poll, becoming the league's pre-season pick for the first time ever. Pacific Lutheran University and Linfield College collected one first-place vote apiece, PLU coming in second in the poll with 57 points and Linfield third with 50 points. Coaches were not permitted to vote on their own teams.
Whitworth won last year's NWC crown with a 17-7 league record and hosted the NWC Tournament, where the Pirates fell to PLU in the title game. Whitworth received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament and hosted the Spokane Regional, going 1-2 to finish with a 30-13 overall record. The Pirates were ranked 25th in the final Collegiate Baseball / American Baseball Coaches Association D-III poll.
Anchoring Whitworth's bid to repeat as NWC champion are a pair of All-NWC First Team selections in designated hitter Jordan McGowan (Sr.) and staff ace Hugh Smith (So.), the latter a D3baseball.com All-West Region Third Team honoree. Also back for the Pirates are Second Team second baseman Garrett Hughes (Sr.), an ABCA / Rawlings Gold Glove winner, and starting pitcher T.J. Orchard (Jr.), along with honorable mention shortstop Joel Condreay (Jr.) and starter Ryan Kingma (So.). Jeremy Druffel, a D3baseball.com All-America honorable mention outfielder, left a big hole with his graduation. NWC Coach of the Year Dan Ramsay is in his ninth season directing the program at his alma mater.
Pacific Lutheran went 15-9 in the conference in 2016 to finish second, then defeated Whitworth in the NWC Tournament finale to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Lutes went all the way to the finals of the Spokane Regional, falling to eventual national champion Trinity University (Texas) for a final 29-19 record. PLU was ranked 22nd in the final D3baseball.com poll.
PLU must find replacements for several key pieces, including All-NWC First Team starter Cory Nelson and closer Garrett Brown, who was ABCA / Rawlings All-America Second Team, as well as All-NWC Second Team third baseman Tyler Thompson and utility player Drew Oord. The Lutes return All-NWC Second Team outfielder Brett Johnson (Sr.) and a pair of honorable mentions, first baseman Cole Johnson (Jr.), who was an All-West Region Second Team selection as a utility player, and second baseman Landon Packard (Sr.), in an effort to regain the NWC title they won in 2015. Nolan Soete is in his second season as the head coach at his alma mater after joining the PLU staff as an assistant in 2007.
Linfield finished in a three-way tie for third in the conference last spring at 14-10 with Pacific University (Ore.) and George Fox University, but lost out on the tiebreakers and did not make the NWC Tournament. The Wildcats had a final overall record of 25-15.
Linfield's hopes of returning to the post-season center around All-West Region Second Team and All-NWC First Team first baseman Ben Andrews (Sr.), All-NWC Second Team outfielder Scott Hilpert (Sr.), and honorable mention starting pitcher Cason Cunningham (So.). The Wildcats will be without All-NWC First Team third baseman Eric Lawson, an ABCA / Rawlings Gold Glove winner, and two Second Teamers, shortstop David Mason and relief ace Cody Walker, the latter an All-West Region Third Team choice. Scott Carnahan is the dean of coaches in the NWC, entering his 26th and final season with the Wildcats with a 587-392-2 record.
George Fox was voted to finish fourth in the conference this season with 42 points. The Bruins tied for third in the NWC at 14-10 last year and finished with an overall 21-20 mark after going 0-2 in the NWC Tournament. The Bruins welcome back a pair of All-West Region Second Team and All-NWC First Teamers in NWC Pitcher of the Year Dustin Wells (Sr.) and catcher Andrew Reichenbach (Sr.), along with honorable mention outfielder AJ Valencia (Jr.), to bolster their chances of reaching the NWC Tournament and beyond. Replacements must be found for honorable mention first baseman Jacob Woehler and shortstop Caylen Clardy, though. Head coach Marty Hunter is now in his 10th season at George Fox, taking a 225-143 record into 2017.
Pacific picked up 38 points to come in fifth in the poll. The Boxers tied for third in the league last spring at 14-10 and went 1-2 in the NWC Tournament to wind up with a 25-18 overall record. The Boxers lost D3baseball.com First Team All-American outfielder and NWC Player of the Year Walker Olis to the Miami Marlins and All-NWC honorable mention outfielder Ben Duerr to graduation. A solid nucleus returns, though, in All-West Region Second Team and All-NWC First Team outfielder Kurtis Kloke (Sr.), who was a D3baseball.com pre-season First Team All-American, All-NWC First Team starter Paul Wolfram (Jr.), and Second Team designated hitter Dylan Wright (Jr.) and starter Kyler Knieriem (Sr.). In his first two seasons at Pacific, head coach Brian Billings has guided the Boxers to a 46-37 record.
Willamette University, coming off a 20-19 season and a tie for sixth in the league at 11-13, received 26 points in the poll to place sixth. The hard-hitting Bearcats feature strength at the infield corners with All-NWC Second Team first baseman Eric Del Prado (Jr.) and honorable mention third baseman Mason Fessler (Jr.). If the pitching, which was third in the league in ERA last season, steps up again, the 'Cats could well contend for a tournament berth. Head coach Aaron Swick takes a record of 156-153-1 into his ninth season at Willamette.
The University of Puget Sound picked up 23 points in the poll for seventh after going 16-24 and tying for sixth in the NWC at 11-13. The Loggers must make up for the loss of All-NWC First Team second baseman Chris Zerio and three Second Teamers in staff ace Collin Maier, catcher Nick Funyak and outfielder Nicholas Alarcio. All-NWC honorable mention relief ace David Follett (Jr.) returns, along with fleet-footed flychasers Cal Muramaru and David Dejesus. Jeff Halstead is in his third season at his alma mater after a record-setting career on the diamond and the gridiron for the Loggers.
Eighth in the poll went to Whitman College with 19 points. The Blues posted a 13-25 overall record in 2016 and were eighth in the conference at 8-16. Whitman features perhaps the league's best left side of the infield with All-West Region Second Team and All-NWC First Team performers in shortstop Adrian Vela (Jr.) and third baseman Joseph Zimmer (Jr.), who was named a pre-season Second Team All-American by D3baseball.com. All-NWC Second Team starter Nick Johnson (Sr.) also returns. Brian Kitamura is now in his second season as the Blues' head coach after five years as an assistant at his alma mater.
Lewis & Clark College took the final spot in the poll with eight points after going 12-28 overall and coming in ninth in the league at 4-20. The rebuilding program continues for the Pioneers, who do bring back leading hitter Akira Abderrahman (Sr.) in the outfield and top run producer Sean Shepherd (Jr.) at first base. Head coach Tom Flynn is in his seventh season at Lewis & Clark after previous stops at Wabash College and the University of the South.
The 2017 season gets going Thursday, Feb. 2, when Pacific (Ore.) visits George Fox for the first game of the Northwest Conference Preseason Tournament, which will feature seven NWC teams playing 14 games over four days at George Fox and Linfield. Willamette and Puget Sound will be in southern California Friday-Sunday, rotating games against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and Whittier College. The first NWC series take place Feb.18-19 with Pacific Lutheran at Puget Sound, George Fox at Lewis & Clark, Whitman at Pacific (Ore.), and Willamette at Linfield.
The NWC schedule features each team playing the other eight teams in three-games sets for a total of 24 conference games each, with the top four teams making the NWC Tournament. The first-place team will host the double-elimination tournament Apr. 21-23, with first-round matchups pitting #1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3. The winner of the tournament receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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