Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Baseball Picked Fifth in 2003 MVC Preseason Poll
01/31/2003 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
Jan. 31, 2003
St. Louis, Mo. - Senior catcher Toby Barnett was named preseason all-Missouri Valley Conference for the second straight year as Southern Illinois was picked to finish fifth in the league's preseason poll, announced earlier today.
For the second consecutive year, league coaches voted Southwest Missouri State as the top baseball team in the MVC. With a record of 42-21 and an at-large berth to the NCAA Championship in 2002, the Bears return six starters and five pitchers, including preseason all-conference selections Shaun Marcum (SS), Dante Brinkley (OF), Greg Mathis (OF), Brad Ziegler (P) and Bob Zimmerman (P). Additionally, SMS led all voting with 78 points and six of nine first-place nods.
With two first-place votes and 65 points, Wichita State is No. 2 in the coaches poll. The Shockers finished last season with a 47-17 record, while winning their 16th MVC regular-season title. Additionally, WSU won its 12th league tournament crown and earned its 20th NCAA tournament berth.
Indiana State earned one first-place vote and 62 points for the third spot in the coaches poll. The Sycamores finished just above .500, in fifth place last season.
After posting a school-record 21 league wins, Creighton finished second in the MVC last year. However, this season, the Bluejays were tabbed fourth with 51 points.
SIU holds the fifth spot in the poll, tallying 47 points after finishing 32-24 in 2002. This season, the Salukis return 21 letterwinners, including six starting position players. Highlighting those returnees is Barnett who hit .306, while registering 40 runs scored and 45 RBI.
Sixth in the coaches poll is Northern Iowa. The Panthers collected 35 points after a 30-25 record in 2002.
Two points behind the Panthers are the Redbirds of Illinois State. With a new head coach, former Evansville skipper Jim Brownlee, ISU fills the No. 7 spot.
Under the direction of a new coaching staff, Evansville comes in at eighth. Dave Schrage, a former league coach at UNI, inherits a squad which went 22-33 last year. In 2002, the Aces had four players drafted by Major League Baseball, but will return 11 experienced letterwinners.
Bradley, directed by 23-year veteran head coach Dewey Kalmer rounds out this year's preseason poll. The Braves finished 18-38 a year ago.
After the regular-season, which included round-robin play, six of the nine league teams will advance to the 2003 ConAgra Foods/Missouri Valley Conference Championship on May 21-24.
Wichita State will serve as host for the double-elimination tournament, which will be held at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kan.
2003 Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll
Team (First Place Votes) Points1) Southwest Missouri State (6) 782) Wichita State (2) 653) Indiana State (1) 624) Creighton 515) Southern Illinois 476) Northern Iowa 357) Illinois State 338) Evansville 199) Bradley 15
Preseason All-ConferencePos. Student-Athlete Year School1B John Purdom Senior Indiana State2B John Peacock Senior Illinois State2B Tony Roth Sophomore CreightonSS *Shaun Marcum Junior SMS3B Chris Hall Senior Indiana StateC *Toby Barnett Senior Southern IllinoisDH *Drew Moffitt Senior Wichita StateOF *Dante Brinkley Senior SMSOF Kevin Egli Senior Indiana StateOF Adam Boeve Junior Northern IowaOF Greg Mathis Senior SMSSP *Brad Ziegler Senior SMSSP *Tom Oldham Junior CreightonRP Steve Grasley Junior CreightonRP Bob Zimmermann Junior SMS
*2002 First Team All-Conference Selection.
