Baseball Pre-Season Pick to Win

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Shenandoah University baseball team is the pre-season selection to win the 2010 USA South Conference baseball title in a poll of the league's coaches released Wednesday afternoon.

Shenandoah, coming off of a 38-10 season that saw the Hornets win the South Region championship and make an appearance in the Division III National Championship, had 35 points and five first place votes in the poll of the seven USA South Conference baseball schools.

Points are awarded on a 1-6 basis and team's cannot vote for themselves in the poll.

SU is six points clear of Methodist, who edged 2009 champion N.C. Wesleyan for the runner-up spot.

N.C. Wesleyan and fourth place selection Christopher Newport each received one first place vote.

Ferrum, Greensboro and Averett rounded out the poll.

This is the highest pre-season pick in history for the baseball team. Last month, the Hornets were also selected eighth in a national pre-season poll conducted by Collegiate Baseball.

Shenandoah opens its season on February 13 with a pair of games in the Richmond area as part of the second-ever ODAC/USA South Challenge.

The complete poll:

2010 USA South Baseball Coaches Poll
Rank	Institution (1st place Votes)	Pts.
1.	Shenandoah (5)	35
2.	Methodist	29
3.	N.C. Wesleyan (1)	25
4.	Christopher Newport (1)	24
5.	Ferrum	17
6.	Greensboro	9
7.	Averett	8