BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – For the first time two teams will share preseason baseball favorite honors in the Ohio Valley Conference as Jacksonville State and Southeast Missouri were tabbed to finish at the top of the 11-team league in a vote of OVC head baseball coaches and sports information directors. In additional voting Tennessee Tech sophomore outfielder Kevin Strohschein was named OVC Preseason Player of the Year while Austin Peay senior Alex Robles was tabbed OVC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
The balanced voting saw five different teams pick up first-place votes with Jacksonville State picking up the most with seven, one more than Southeast Missouri; each team finished with 174 total points in balloting. Austin Peay was picked third and received five first-place votes (163 points), while Tennessee Tech had a pair of first-place votes and was picked fourth (151). Morehead State was tabbed fifth (131), Belmont was sixth (117) and Murray State picked up the final two first-place votes to finish seventh (110). The poll was rounded out by Eastern Kentucky (74), UT Martin (46), SIUE (39) and Eastern Illinois (31).
In all 18 players were selected to the Preseason All-OVC team. The 18 players represented eight of the 11 teams who will compete for the OVC championship this season. Belmont, Jacksonville State, Murray State and Southeast Missouri led the way with three selections each while Austin Peay and Morehead State each had two picks.
After being picked second each of the past two seasons, Jacksonville State shared preseason favorite honors this year, the first time the Gamecocks have been tabbed first in the preseason since 2011. A year ago JSU finished second in the regular season and advanced to the Championship Round of the OVC Tournament before falling to Southeast Missouri. This season head coach Jim Case returns 18 letterwinners, including 11 pitchers and six positional starters. Among the team’s returning players is junior All-American second baseman Clayton Daniel. Daniel earned a pair of All-American honors last season after batting .372 with 93 hits, 23 extra base hits and 54 RBI. Daniel was statistically the toughest player in the OVC (and eighth nationally) to strikeout (one every 19.2 at-bats) while also ranking ninth nationally in hits. Daniel was one of three JSU players on the Preseason All-OVC team along with senior third baseman Josh Bobo and junior closer Justin Hoyt. Bobo hit .330 with 15 doubles a year ago, while Hoyt saved 11 games and notched a 1.80 E.R.A. in 25 appearances.
Defending OVC regular season and tournament champion Southeast Missouri is tabbed first in the preseason poll for the third-straight season, a first in League history. The Redhawks welcome first-year head coach Andy Sawyers who takes over after most recently serving as Associate Head Coach at Kansas State. He inherits a team that returns 21 total players including two pitchers who were named to the Preseason All-OVC Team. That includes senior Robert Beltran, who was 8-1 in 17 appearances a year ago, and senior Clay Chandler, who notched a 3.90 E.R.A. and struck out 96 in 97 innings of work in 2016. Senior outfielder Chris Osborne was tabbed a NCBWA Preseason All-American after leading all Division I players in slugging (.741) a season ago; he clubbed 15 home runs and reached base safely in the final 32 games of last season.
In the first-year under head coach Travis Janssen, Austin Peay qualified for the six-team OVC Tournament field after a two-year absence and reached the 30-win plateau. This season the Governors will rely on senior Alex Robles who was tabbed the OVC Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Last season Robles notched career bests in victories (10), innings pitched (98.1) and strikeouts (89). He enters his final year in an APSU uniform with 22 career victories. Robles also gets it done with his bat, hitting .317 with 10 doubles and 39 RBI a year ago. The Govs also return senior outfielder Chase Hamilton, who was Preseason All-OVC selection. A year ago, Hamilton hit .332 with 14 doubles, 12 home runs and 47 RBI.
Tennessee Tech will look to reigning OVC Player and Freshman of the Year Kevin Strohschein to pace its team this season. A year ago, the outfielder became the first player in league history to claim both the OVC Player and Freshman of the Year awards in the same season. He led the league in RBI (73) and total bases (162) and ranked in the top five in batting average (.393), slugging percentage (.707), hits (90), doubles (21) and home runs (15). He also made just one error all season, posting an impressive .990 fielding percentage with five assists. That earned him multiple All-American and Freshman All-American honors at the end of 2016 and has been a Preseason All-American selection by several outlets this preseason. The team also returns senior catcher Chris Brown, who had 11 home runs a year ago, senior pitcher Michael Wood who compiled a 4-3 record and 3.47 E.R.A. in 16 appearances, and sophomore pitcher Ethan Roberts who had a 6-1 record, two saves and 2.94 E.R.A. in 16 relief appearances.
Morehead State won 32 games a season ago, marking the first time in program history MSU had won 30 or more games in back-to-back seasons. Last year’s version of the Eagles ranked second in the OVC in team E.R.A., the highest ranking for the program in over a decade. This season head coach Mike McGuire returns nine pitchers to go along with eight positional starters. Among the returning pitchers is junior Aaron Leasher who struck out 107 batters a year ago and ranked ninth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (12.08), and senior lefty Cable Wright who appeared in 29 games a year ago and compiled a 6-0 record and 2.23 E.R.A. MSU had two positional players named to the Preseason All-OVC Team in sophomore shortstop Reid Leonard and senior outfielder Will Schneider. Leonard was second on the team with a .344 batting average while earning Freshman All-American honors, while Schneider hit .343 with 10 home runs and 57 RBI a year ago.
A season ago Belmont ranked fifth nationally in stolen bases (1.92/game), seventh in home runs (1.27/game), ninth in on-base percentage (.405) and 10th in slugging (.486). This season head coach Dave Jarvis, who begins his 20th year with the program, has eight returning starters and 21 total returning letterwinners on his roster. Among the returning players are a trio of Preseason All-OVC selections in junior hurler Tyler Vaughn, senior outfielder Brennan Washington and senior utility player Clay Payne. Vaughn had a 7-3 record and 4.00 E.R.A. in 87.2 innings of work in 2016 while Washington had a team-high 15 home runs (after hitting just four the prior season) and Payne added 10 round trippers.
Murray State was the most improved team in the OVC last season (+11), which was tied for 19th nationally among Division I teams. Overall the team finished with 27 victories which was the most for the program since 2010. The improvement was enough to garner the team two first-place votes in the preseason poll while three players earned Preseason All-OVC honors. Those selections included senior catcher Tyler Lawrence, senior first baseman Ramsey Scott and senior outfielder Adam Bauer. Lawrence led the team with a .355 batting average and 22 doubles while also adding 58 RBI. Scott had a team-best 13 home runs and 63 RBI while also finishing with 69 hits and a .612 slugging percentage. Bauer finished the 2016 season with nine triples, which ranked second nationally and established a new MSU single-season record. Bauer began last season by reaching base safely in the first 50 games (also a new program record) and finished the year with a .343 batting average, .527 slugging percentage and .453 on-base percentage.
Eastern Kentucky has 18 letterwinners and six positional starters back for second year head coach Edwin Thompson. Last year’s team knocked off a pair of nationally-ranked opponents during the season while finishing with 24 overall victories. Among the returning players is senior first baseman Ben Fisher, who started every game last season and hit eight home runs, and senior shortstop Cole Warrenfeltz .299, 60 hits, 13 doubles, nine stolen bases).
UT Martin won 19 total games a season ago, the most for the team since the 2011 season. Now third-year head coach Rick Robinson will look to build on that total with 13 returning players and 19 newcomers. Among the returning players is senior infielder Ryan Helgren, who led the team with a .321 batting average a season ago, and senior pitcher Alex Evans, who had a team-high eight victories in 88.1 innings of work.
Sean Lyons begins his tenure as head coach of the SIUE program in 2017. Lyons, who most recently was the associate head coach at Bradley, is no stranger to the OVC as he played at Eastern Illinois (1996-99), leading the Panthers in hits for three-straight seasons, and later spent six seasons as an assistant coach on the EIU staff. His first SIUE squad includes six returning positional starters and 17 newcomers. Among the returning players is senior designated hitter Keaton Wright who was tabbed a Preseason All-OVC pick. Wright hit a team-high .362 with 67 hits, 16 doubles, five home runs and 37 RBI a year ago.
Eastern Illinois second year head coach Jason Anderson has 17 letterwinners back from his debut season. Among the team’s top returning players is junior outfielder Joe Duncan who had a team-high .332 batting average in 2016.
The 69th season of OVC baseball will get underway on Friday, Feb. 17 with the first weekend of league play being held March 10-12. The season will culminate with the 2017 OVC Championship which will be held for the first time at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama. The tournament runs May 24-28.
2017 OVC Baseball Predicted Order of Finish
1. Jacksonville State (7 first-place votes) – 174 points
Southeast Missouri (6) – 174
3. Austin Peay (5) – 163
4. Tennessee Tech (2) – 151
5. Morehead State – 131
6. Belmont – 117
7. Murray State (2) – 110
8. Eastern Kentucky – 74
9. UT Martin – 46
10. SIUE – 39
11. Eastern Illinois – 31
2017 Preseason All-OVC Team
Preseason OVC Player of the Year: Kevin Strohschein (OF), Tennessee Tech
Preseason OVC Pitcher of the Year: Alex Robles (RHP), Austin Peay
C – Tyler Lawrence, Murray State
1B – Ramsey Scott, Murray State
2B – Clayton Daniel, Jacksonville State
SS – Reid Leonard, Morehead State
3B – Josh Bobo, Jacksonville State
OF – Kevin Strohschein, Tennessee Tech
OF – Chris Osborne, Southeast Missouri
OF – Brennan Washington, Belmont
OF – Chase Hamilton, Austin Peay
OF – Will Schneider, Morehead State
OF – Adam Bauer, Murray State
DH – Keaton Wright, SIUE
UT – Clay Payne, Belmont
SP – Robert Beltran, Southeast Missouri
SP – Alex Robles, Austin Peay
SP – Tyler Vaughn, Belmont
SP – Clay Chandler, Southeast Missouri
RP – Justin Hoyt, Jacksonville State
