Gents Picked To Finish Second In 2024 SCAC Preseason Baseball Poll
The Centenary baseball team was predicted to finish second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference this season based on preseason balloting from the league’s head coaches while garnering one first-place vote.
SUWANEE, Ga. – Trinity University has been tabbed as the favorite to take home the 2024 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball title, based on preseason balloting from the league's head coaches.
In search of its 14th SCAC baseball crown, Trinity, who last season secured its first league tournament title since 2019, garnered seven first-place votes to top the coaches' poll with 62 points. Centenary, winner of the 2022 SCAC Tournament and coming off its eighth 20-plus win season since 2013, secured the final first-place vote and finished second in the poll with 51 total points. Southwestern and Texas Lutheran landed in a tie for third in the preseason poll with 43 points apiece. The Pirates won 25 games last year for the first time since 2005, while the Bulldogs, who welcome a new era of coaching under class of '09 graduate Kyle Palmer, are one of just two SCAC squads to win 25 or more games in each of the last three seasons. St. Thomas, which also welcomes a new head coach in Torry Peterson, checked in at fifth with 34 points on the heels of setting a program single-season record with 20 wins last season. Coming off back-to-back 15-plus win seasons for the first time since joining the SCAC prior to the 2014 season, Schreiner earned 27 points and is slotted sixth in the preseason poll.
Rounding out the coaches' selections were Dallas in seventh (18 points) and Austin College in eighth (10 points).
Trinity opens the 2024 campaign ranked 22nd in the D3baseball.com Preseason Top 25 poll, a season removed from advancing to its second-straight NCAA Regional final and securing its 11th 30-plus win season since 2010. The Tigers bolster three batters in seniors Jack Peterson, Ty Preston, and Christian Holloway that each recorded 35 or more hits last season to strengthen an offensive attack that finished with an SCAC-best 463 hits. Trinity has paced the conference in hits two straight years and three of the last five seasons. Peterson and Preston, both Honorable Mention All-SCAC selections last year, along with Holloway, combined for 123 hits and an impressive .323 batting average. Additionally, the trio accounted for 69 of the Tigers' 270 runs driven in, 74-of-270 runs scored, 17-of-73 doubles and 37 of a league-leading 102 stolen bases. Last year marked the first time since 2011 Trinity has led the SCAC in stolen bases.
On the mound, Trinity will be led by a pair of All-SCAC returnees, highlighted by the reigning Pitcher-of-the-Year junior Jackson Teer. Last season, Teer led the SCAC with nine wins and posted an impressive 2.71 ERA after tossing a league-high 86.1 innings. Joining Teer as an All-SCAC returnee is three-time all-league performer senior Joseph Chavana. Chavana returns needing just four wins to reach the 20-win plateau for his career and has limited batters to a .255 average over 180.0 innings of work. Teer and Chavana combined last year for 140 of Trinity's SCAC leading 451 strikeouts. Remarkably, Trinity has led the SCAC in strikeouts 17 of the last 20 years and last season became the first team in league history to produce back-to-back 450-plus strikeout seasons.
Trinity is led by Head Coach Tim Scannell, who will begin his 26th season in charge of the baseball program. The Tigers have amassed a record of 768-293 (.723) over 25 seasons with Coach Scannell at the helm. He is ranked in the top 10 among active NCAA Division III coaches by winning percentage, and his squads have qualified for the NCAA Playoffs 15 times, including the 2023 campaign. Trinity posted a string of seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 2010-2016, and the Tigers have advanced to the Regional finals eight times in Scannell's tenure: 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2022 and 2023.
The 2024 SCAC baseball season begins on February 2nd, while the first conference series of the year are scheduled for Friday, March 15th. The 2024 SCAC Baseball Tournament will be held in May at The Depot at Cleburne Station as the double-elimination tournament will begin on Friday the 3rd.
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2024 SCAC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll |
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1. |
Trinity University (7) |
62 |
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2. |
Centenary College (1) |
51 |
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3. |
Southwestern University |
43 |
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Texas Lutheran University |
43 |
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5. |
University of St. Thomas |
34 |
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6. |
Schreiner University |
27 |
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7. |
University of Dallas |
18 |
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8. |
Austin College |
10 |
