Covenant College, under the direction of eight-year Head Coach Doug Simons, was picked to win the USA South Athletic Conference 2014 baseball title in the preseason coaches' poll. The Scots will be in their first season of membership in the USA South this season. Last spring, Covenant set a modern era school record for victories with 28. Additionally, the Scots earned a trip to the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) World Series for the first time in program history.
Covenant is currently within the "receiving votes" category of the D3Baseball.com Preseason National Poll.
The 2014 season marks the first in the USA South for new Conference members Covenant and Huntingdon College. Both institutions are former members of the Great South Athletic Conference.
The Scots received three of ten first-place votes and 67 points as head coaches do not vote for their own teams in the balloting.
N.C. Wesleyan College earned the second spot in the poll with 63 points and two first place votes. Last season's USA South Tournament champions, Methodist University, tallied 60 points and one first place vote to place third while Piedmont College was fourth with 58 points. Newcomer Huntingdon collected 51 points and three first place votes to place fifth, Averett University totaled 49 points to place sixth while Maryville College picked up 46 points and the final first place vote to place seventh. Ferrum College, LaGrange College and Greensboro College, respectively, rounded out the preseason poll.
The 2014 campaign gets underway on Saturday, February 1st as Averett and Piedmont are in action.
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2014 USA South Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll
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Rank
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Institution (1st Place Votes)
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Pts.
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1.
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Covenant (3)
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67
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2.
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N.C. Wesleyan (2)
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63
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3.
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Methodist (1)
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60
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4.
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Piedmont
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58
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5.
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Huntingdon (3)
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51
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6.
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Averett
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49
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7.
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Maryville (1)
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46
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8.
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Ferrum
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23
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9.
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LaGrange
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20
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10.
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Greensboro
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13
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