A-Sun Announces Baseball Preseason Honors
2/3/2010 11:48:12 AM | Baseball
Ospreys picked fifth, Hale unanimous pick
MACON, Ga. - The Atlantic Sun conference announced its baseball preseason coaches' poll and all-conference honors Wednesday with FGCU earning the nod as the conference favorite. The University of North Florida baseball team was picked fifth and senior outfielder Preston Hale was a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Atlantic Sun Conference team.
Hale was Second Team All-Atlantic Sun Conference last season. He led the team in batting average (.371), runs scored (46), hits (82), RBI (43), doubles (17), home runs (10), total bases (131), plate appearances (251) and games started (53). Hale had a team-best 24 multiple hit games and team-high 12 multiple RBI games. He also posted the longest hitting streak of the year, batting safely in 12 consecutive games and finished the year with an eight game hitting streak. Hale was second on the team with a .593 slugging percentage and third on the team with a .444 on-base percentage.
FGCU earned the nod from coaches as the conference favorite grabbing 10 of a possible 11 first-place votes. The coaches also tabbed the Eagles as the favorite to win the postseason tournament. FGCU placed No. 25 in Ping!Baseball's Preseason rankings and received votes in the first National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll and USA Today/ESPN Poll.
The coaches picked Jacksonville, the reigning conference champion, second in the preseason poll and the Dolphins also earned solid representation on the preseason All-Atlantic Sun team.
Stetson took third in the preseason coaches' poll. Kennesaw State enters the preseason poll fourth, followed by UNF in fifth. Both the Owls and Ospreys completed their transition to Division I after last season and for the first time, can compete for spots in the Atlantic Sun Championships, and thus a chance at earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. Mercer and Lipscomb tied for sixth. The coaches pick Belmont eighth, ETSU ninth, Campbell tenth and USC Upstate eleventh.
2010 A-Sun Preseason Coaches Poll
| School | Points | |
| 1. | FGCU | 120 |
| 2. | Jacksonville | 106 |
| 3. | Stetson | 82 |
| 4. | Kennesaw State | 81 |
| 5. | North Florida | 69 |
| 6. | Lipscomb | 62 |
| Mercer | 62 | |
| 8. | Belmont | 53 |
| 9. | ETSU | 45 |
| 10. | Campbell | 34 |
| 11. | USC Upstate | 12 |
Projected Tournament Winner - FGCU
2010 Atlantic Sun Preseason All-Conference
| Pos. | Player | School |
| SP | Matt Loosen* | Jacksonville |
| SP | Chris Sale* | FGCU |
| SP | Josh Smith | Lipscomb |
| RP | Chris Kaminski | Jacksonville |
| C | Robert Green | FGCU |
| 1B | Zach Maxfield | FGCU |
| 2B | Chuck Opachich | Jacksonville |
| 3B | Tim Roberson | FGCU |
| SS | Tyler Stubblefield | Kennesaw State |
| OF | Preston Hale* | North Florida |
| OF | Dylan Craig | Belmont |
| OF | Josh Whitaker | Kennesaw State |
| DH | Aaron Crittenden | Stetson |
Player of the Year: Zach Maxfield, FGCU
Pitcher of the Year: Chris Sale*, FGCU
* - Unanimous Selection
Friday, February 13
Tuesday, February 10
Tuesday, February 10
Tuesday, February 10
