ASC – Sports

BASEBALL

RICHARDSON, Texas – The University of Texas at Tyler has been picked to win the 2018 American Southwest Conference baseball regular season title after a vote of the league’s head coaches and sports information directors, announced by the conference office Wednesday.

UT-Tyler received 331 points and 21 out of a possible 26 first-place votes to lead the ASC poll. The defending ASC champion and ranked No. 19 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll, the Patriots recorded their third consecutive season of 30 or more overall wins. The Patriots have won six ASC titles, including four in the last five years and leads the conference with seven NCAA Championship appearances.

The University of Texas at Dallas was picked second with 304 points and five first-place votes. The Comets, under the 2017 ASC Coaching Staff of the Year and head coach Shane Shewmake, finished second in the regular season with a 19-5 league record and 33-11 overall. UTD was ranked No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll.

Concordia University Texas was picked third with 285 points after a trip the NCAA Championship Regional Finals in 2017. The Tornados went 31-18 overall and 16-8 in ASC competition last year. They were ranked No. 30 in the preseason poll by Collegiate Baseball.

East Texas Baptist University placed third last year, and the made the ASC Championship Gold Bracket finals after going 30-15 overall and 18-6 in conference play. The Tigers were picked fourth in the preseason poll with 257 points.

Rounding out the poll were University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (217), Hardin-Simmons University (207), Belhaven University (153), Sul Ross State University (132), Louisiana College (131), McMurry University (131), Howard Payne University (114), University of the Ozarks (61) and LeTourneau University (59).

In addition to the preseason poll, named to the ASC Baseball Preseason Watch List by the head coaches were a total of 26 players, 13 position players, and 13 pitchers. Among the players returning for the new season are 13 all-conference selections, including ASC Pitcher of the Year Jamie Andriot (Plano, Texas) of UT Dallas.

Andriot was a D3baseball.com First Team All-West Region selection after going 10-0 on the mound in 12 appearances. He racked up 80 strikeouts with a 2.70 earned run average, a shutout and a save in 83.1 innings.

Other returning All-Conference First Team selections from 2017 on the Players to Watch List include – Taylor Cooling from Hardin-Simmons and Zach Gartner from East Texas Baptist.

The 2018 season is the 22nd in ASC baseball history and will start February 1 when Concordia Texas will host George Fox in Austin.

2018 ASC Baseball Preseason Poll

Rank	Team (1st place votes)	Pts.	2017 Record (ASC)
1.	UT Tyler (21)	331	39-9 (21-3)
2.	UT Dallas (5)	304	33-11 (19-5)
3.	Concordia Texas	285	31-18 (16-8)
4.	East Texas Baptist	257	30-15 (18-6)
5.	Mary Hardin-Baylor	217	22-18 (16-8)
6.	Hardin-Simmons	207	20-23 (11-13)
7.	Belhaven #	153	26-14 (14-10)
8.	Sul Ross State	132	14-26 (7-17)
9.	Louisiana College	131	20-22 (9-15)
	McMurry %	131	13-27 (7-17)
11.	Howard Payne	114	18-22 (10-14)
12.	Ozarks	61	12-26 (6-17)
13.	LeTourneau	59	9-28 (1-22)

# Ineligible for 2018 ASC Championship/NCAA Championship (Div. III Provisional)
% Ineligible for 2018 ASC Championship/NCAA Championship (Div. III Reclassifying)

2018 ASC Baseball Preseason Players to Watch
Players selected by their respective head coach

Position Players

Name	Cl.	Pos.	School
Will Costinett	Sr.	IF	Belhaven
Michael Evan *	Sr.	OF	Concordia Texas
Zach Gartner *	Jr.	OF	East Texas Baptist
Taylor Coooling *	Sr.	SS	Hardin-Simmons
David Groves *	Jr.	3B	Howard Payne
Gonzalo Sosa *	Sr.	1B	LeTourneau
Sully Martin *	Sr.	OF	Louisiana College
Max Conway	Sr.	C	Mary Hardin-Baylor
Tyler Jenkins *	Sr.	1B	McMurry
Chase Edwards *	So.	1B/DH	Ozarks
Barry Casey *	Sr.	1B	UT Dallas
Alex Bishop	Sr.	1B	UT Tyler

Pitchers

Name	Cl.	Pos.	School
Austin Douglas	Sr.	RHP	Belhaven
Justin Traxler *	Sr.	RHP	Concordia Texas
Blake Corbin	So.	RHP	East Texas Baptist
Chandler Carter	Sr.	RHP	Hardin-Simmons
Seth Owen	Jr.	RHP	Howard Payne
Andrew Harlan	Jr.	RHP	LeTourneau
Jacob Buchanan	Sr.	LHP	Louisiana College
Casey Frazier *	Sr.	RHP	Mary Hardin-Baylor
Jack Poe	So.	RHP	McMurry
Gyeongju Kim	So.	RHP	Ozarks
Cody Remore *	Sr.	RHP	Sul Ross State
Jamie Andriot *	Sr.	RHP	UT Dallas
Ryan Cheatham	Sr.	RHP	UT Tyler

*2017 All-Conference

AMERICAN SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Competitions: January 12-13, 2018

MEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Jacob Williams, Sr., Ozarks
University of the Ozarks senior Jacob Williams (Broken Arrow, Okla.) set a modern-day school record in the 60-meter dash, posting a time of 7.21 seconds. He finished eighth place in the, mostly, NCAA Division II Missouri Southern Invite in Joplin, Mo.

MEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Austin Parrish, Fr., LeTourneau
LeTourneau University freshman Austin Parrish (Carthage, Texas) earned a top-eight finish in his first collegiate track meet by clearing 4.30 meters (14 ft.-1.25 in.) in the pole vault. His mark set at the University of Houston Leonard Hilton Memorial tied for 42nd in the nation.

WOMEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Nora Day, Fr., Louisiana College
Louisiana College freshman Nora Day (Marksville, La.) placed seventh in the 55-meter hurdles at the McNeese State Indoor I meet in Lake Charles, La. She ran a 9.62 second time in the preliminaries, before running the finals in 9.88.

WOMEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Ro Calloway, Fr., LeTourneau
LeTourneau freshman Ro Calloway (Texarkana, Texas) recorded a long jump of 4.54 meters (14 ft.-10.75 in.) to place 14th at the University of Houston Leonard Hilton Memorial. She also ran the 60-meter dash in 8.42 seconds.

OTHER TOP MEN’S PERFORMANCES
LeTourneau junior Arvin Hrushka (Kaiserslautern, Germany) competed in two events for the YellowJackets in their inaugural meet at the Leonard Hilton Memorial in Houston. He ran the 400-meter dash in 56.10 against mostly NCAA Division I competition. He also recorded a long jump of 5.42 meters (17 ft.-9.5 in.) and a shot put of 8.96 meters (29 ft.-4.75 in.).

OTHER TOP WOMEN’S PERFORMANCES
LeTourneau freshman Kirstiana Welch (Mineola, Texas) placed 14th in the mile with a time of 6:34.74 at the Leonard Hilton Memorial.

Ozarks junior Chauzney Hooks (Texarkana, Texas) finished 12th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:07.81 at the Missouri Southern Invite.

Cody Usher
Assistant Commissioner
American Southwest Conference