The California Collegiate Athletic Association released its 2019 Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll, with SF State projected to finish as the No. 6 team in the conference.
Last season, the program finished with a 23-21 record in conference play and made a historic run with their first-ever CCAA Championship appearance since joining the conference in 1999. SF State’s last baseball conference title came in 1983 when the program was part of the Northern California Athletic Conference.
SF State will return four All-CCAA players in infielders Brady Dorn (All-CCAA First Team) and Jackson Kritsch (All-CCAA Second Team), outfielder Jack Harris and first baseman and outfielder Harley Lopez (All-CCAA Honorable Mentions). The roster consists of 10 seniors and 17 juniors who will provide the program with experience on and off the field.
Kritsch, the star infielder, was also selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America for the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Division II Baseball Second Team. He became the program’s first Academic All-America selection. Kritsch was also joined by Dorn as ABCA/Rawlings All-West Region Team selections.
The All-Team accolades didn’t stop for SF State last season, as Dorn was also named to the National College Baseball Writers Association NCAA Division II All-West Region First Team and D2CCA NCAA Division II All-West Region Second Team.
SF State will kick off their season at home on Tuesday against NAIA opponent Simpson University, with a three-game series against Concordia University of Oregon at Maloney Field on Feb. 8 and 9. CCAA conference play tips off Feb. 15 against the Sonoma State Seawolves.
2019 Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll (first-place votes)
1 | UC San Diego | 119 (9) |
2 | Cal Poly Pomona | 104 (2) |
3 | Cal State Monterey Bay | 102 (1) |
4 | Chico State | 99 |
5 | Cal State LA | 75 |
6 | San Francisco State | 64 |
7 | Sonoma State | 63 |
8 | Cal State East Bay | 49 |
9 | Stanislaus State | 45 |
10 | Cal State San Marcos | 26 |
11 | Cal State San Bernardino | 25 |
12 | Cal State Dominguez Hills | 21 |
The standings were voted upon by the conference’s head coaches, with defending CCAA tournament champions and NCAA Championship finalists from a season ago, UC San Diego pegged as the top team in the conference.