By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COMPLETE OVC BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL RESULTS
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Just one week prior to the start of the 2019 baseball season, the Ohio Valley Conference has announced both its predicted order of finish and Preseason All-OVC Baseball Team.
In a vote of OVC head baseball coaches and sports information directors, Golden Eagle outfielder Kevin Strohschein was selected as the league's Preseason Player of the Year for the second time in his career.
The senior All-American finished the 2018 season with a gaudy line of .375/.433/.650 last season, totaling 106 hits (the second most in program history), 69 runs, 18 doubles, 18 home runs and 67 RBI. For his efforts, he collected his second career OVC Player of the Year honor, the first Golden Eagle to do so.
He became the first player in OVC history to record three seasons with at least 60 RBI, three seasons with at least 75 hits and three seasons with at least 55 runs scored. Strohschein is also just the fourth player in league history (and second in school history) to record three seasons with at least 14 home runs.
In additional voting, the Tennessee Tech baseball team was selected to finish third in the league, trailing only defending OVC Tournament champion Morehead State and Jacksonville State.
Tech had a season to remember in 2018, winning an OVC record 53 total and 27 Conference games, becoming the first OVC team to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship and first OVC team to advance to the Super Regionals (after winning the Oxford Regional). During the season TTU became the first OVC team ranked in the Top 10 (reaching No. 10 in the NCBWA poll) and finished the year ranked in all six national polls, including 11th in both the NCBWA and Baseball America polls.
First-year head coach Justin Holmes, who spent the past four years as an assistant with the program, will see many new faces in the program, after the team saw a record eight players drafted, nine total players sign major league contracts and several other players graduate.
The Golden Eagles will officially kick off the 2019 campaign with a three-game series against Western Illinois at Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex beginning Friday, Feb. 15 at 6:00 p.m. CT.
2019 TENNESSEE TECH BASEBALL SCHEDULE
2019 OVC Baseball Predicted Order of Finish
1. Morehead State (11 first-place votes) – 185 points
2. Jacksonville State (6) – 173
3. Tennessee Tech (5) – 166
4. Austin Peay – 143
5. Southeast Missouri – 142
6. Eastern Kentucky – 110
7. Belmont – 88
8. Eastern Illinois – 77
9. Murray State – 51
10. SIUE – 45
11. UT Martin - 32
2019 Preseason All-OVC Baseball Team
Preseason OVC Player of the Year: Kevin Strohschein (OF/DH), Tennessee Tech
Preseason OVC Pitcher of the Year: Jacques Pucheu (LHP), Austin Peay
C – Nic Gaddis, Jacksonville State
1B – Parker Phillips, Austin Peay
1B – Trevor Snyder, Morehead State
2B – Jimmy Govern, Eastern Illinois
SS – Reid Leonard, Morehead State
3B – Cole Frederick, Jacksonville State
OF – Justin Dirden, Southeast Missouri
OF – Jordan Stoner, UT Martin
OF – Connor Pauly, Morehead State
DH – Kevin Strohschein, Tennessee Tech
UT – Nick Howie, Eastern Kentucky
SP – Tyler Jones, Eastern Illinois
SP – Garrett Farmer, Jacksonville State
SP – Jacques Pucheu, Austin Peay
SP – Casey Queener, Belmont
RP – Aaron Ochsenbein, Eastern Kentucky
RP – Cory Conway, Morehead State
Photo by Tony Marable
