ORU Baseball No. 1 In Summit League Preseason Poll

The Oral Roberts baseball team is the clear favorite heading into the 2012 season as Friday they came out as the No. 1 team in the Summit League Preseason Coaches Poll.

The Golden Eagles received six first-place votes out of seven and 36 points overall.

Western Illinois came in at No. 2 with 27 over all points while South Dakota State came in close behind with 25 points for third place in the preseason rankings.

ORU is favored to win their 15th-consecutive Summit League Baseball Tournament Title after finishing the 2011 season ranked No. 23 nationally by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

This season the Golden Eagles return four starters in the field and three starting pictures.

One of the veterans includes last year's Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year, Alex Gonzales. He finished last season with an 8-7 record, 100 strikeouts in 105.2 innings of work and a 3.49 ERA which ranked third in the league.

ORU also returns junior Drew Bowen, who had the league's lowest ERA at 1.73 and a 6-2 record, and Matt Rush, who had nine saves a year ago.

On offense, Oral Roberts welcomes back two all-league honorees, preseason third-team All-American Cam Schiller and senior outfielder Brandon King. Schiller had a .342 average with 17 doubles and 56 RBI, while King batted .319 with 10 home runs and 56 RBI.

North Dakota State was the No. 4 team in the preseason poll with 21 points, two ahead of Southern Utah with the final first-place vote. Oakland with 11 points and IPFW with eight points rounded out the poll.

The Golden Eagles begin the 2012 regular season at Baylor on February 18.

2012 Summit League Preseason Coaches Poll

     Team          Points  (1st Place Votes)
1. Oral Roberts 36 (6)
2. Western Illinois 27
3. South Dakota State 25
4. North Dakota State 21
5. Southern Utah 19 (1)
6. Oakland 11
7. IPFW 8