Baseball favored for third straight title
2/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 12, 2008
FORT WORTH, Texas - After claiming the regular season and tournament crowns each of the last two seasons, TCU has been picked to win its third straight regular season Mountain West Conference baseball champions. In a vote of the seven MWC head coaches and a select media panel, the Horned Frogs received six of a possible nine first-place votes and 60 points, while BYU (three first-place nods) received 52 points to finish second in the poll. In addition, two Horned Frogs were named to the preseason all-conference team.
San Diego State tallied 42 points for a third-place standing in the poll, while New Mexico (40 points) was fourth, UNLV (26 points) fifth, Utah (23 points) sixth and Air Force (nine points) seventh. BYU placed four players on the preseason all-MWC team, followed by San Diego State and TCU with three apiece, New Mexico with two, and UNLV and Utah with one player each.
TCU returns five starters from last year's NCAA Tournament squad, including 2008 preseason all-MWC selections Clint Arnold (Sr., OF), Bryan Kervin (Sr., SS) and Matt Vern (Jr., 1B). The Horned Frogs were 48-14 overall last season (20-3 MWC) and captured their second consecutive MWC postseason tournament title.
The Frogs open the season at Lupton Stadium against No. 14 Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. (CST).
2008 MWC PRESEASON POLL
(selected by MWC head coaches and select media)
Rk. Team (1st place votes) Points
1. TCU (6) 60
2. BYU (3) 52
3. San Diego State 42
4. New Mexico 40
5. UNLV 26
6. Utah 23
7. Air Force 9
2008 MWC PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
(selected by MWC head coaches and select media)
Pos. Name, Class Institution
C Michael Brenly, Jr. UNLV
1B Kasey Ko, Jr. BYU
Matt Vern, Jr. TCU
2B Sean McNaughton, So. BYU
Matt Hibbitts, Sr. New Mexico
3B Steve Parker, So. BYU
SS Bryan Kervin, Sr. TCU
OF Kent Walton, Jr. BYU
OF Brandon Glover, Sr. San Diego State
OF Clint Arnold, Sr. TCU
OF Corey Shimada, So. Utah
P Stephen Strasburg, So. San Diego State
P Bobby LaFromboise, Sr. New Mexico
UT/DH Nick Romero, Jr. San Diego State
