West Texas A&M is the favorite to defend its Lone Star Conference baseball title according to the preseason poll announced by league officials on Thursday.
WT received 10 of the 18 first-place votes on the ballots cast by LSC coaches, sports information directors and various media representatives for 117 total points. The Buffs won their second LSC Championship and hosted the South Central Regional last season with a 40-14 overall and 20-4 conference record.
Texas A&M-Kingsville finished second with six first-place nods and 106 points in front of Angelo State. ASU received two top votes for 94 points to rank third.
Tarleton State, the defending LSC tournament champions, was picked fourth with 76 points followed by Eastern New Mexico (51), Cameron (34), and UT Permian Basin (26) rounded out the poll.
ASU’s Nick Novak was tabbed LSC Preseason Player of the Year, while WT’s Joe Corbett earned LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year honors.
Novak, a junior infielder from Stillwater, Minnesota, hit at a .353 clip with 60 hits and 23 stolen bases last season to rank amongst the LSC leaders. The first team All-LSC performer finished with a .952 fielding percentage, 121 assists, and 58 putouts at shortstop.
Corbett, a senior right-handed pitcher from Edmond, Oklahoma, was the ace of the WT pitching staff in 2018 earning first team All-LSC acclaim. He finished the season with an overall record of 11-2 with a 3.05 ERA in 97.1 innings of work as he allowed 39 runs (33 earned) on 87 hits with a team-leading 100 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .244. Corbett led the league in victories, innings pitched, and strikeouts while setting a new Buff record for wins in a single season.
The 2019 season starts February 1 with the seven LSC teams playing a 10-week schedule. A four-game series against every other team during weeks 8-14 will determine the LSC Champion. Conference series scheduled weeks 5-7 will not count toward the league standings. Each four-game series shall consist of a 9-inning game Friday, a 7x7 doubleheader Saturday and 9-inning contest Sunday.
The overall LSC Champion will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in regular-season conference games, while the winner of the postseason championship will be recognized as LSC Tournament Champion and receive the league’s automatic qualification into NCAA postseason. This season, the top six teams play a single-elimination championship on May 9-10-11, at the No. 1 seed.
Here is a closer look at the voting breakdown for the conference:
| Rank |
LSC Baseball |
1st |
TOTAL |
| 1 |
West Texas A&M |
10 |
117 |
| 2 |
Texas A&M-Kingsville |
6 |
106 |
| 3 |
Angelo State |
2 |
94 |
| 4 |
Tarleton State |
|
76 |
| 5 |
Eastern New Mexico |
|
51 |
| 6 |
Cameron |
|
34 |
| 7 |
UT Permian Basin |
|
26 |