C of I Picked to Win NAIA West Baseball Title
PORTLAND, Ore. – College of Idaho is favored to win the first-ever NAIA West baseball title, according to a preseason poll of head coaches in the nine-team association.
The NAIA West is comprised of four teams from the Cascade Collegiate Conference (College of Idaho, Concordia University, Corban College and Oregon Institute of Technology), two from the California Pacific Conference (Bethany University, Simpson University) and three independents (University of British Columbia, Patten University and Cal State San Marcos). All but Cal State San Marcos will be participating in a 10-week scheduling alliance that features a 32-game regular season schedule for each (home and home series against intra-division opponents and one home and one road series vs. two cross-division opponents).
The division winners will be joined by the next two highest rated teams within the grouping for a four-team, double elimination tournament to determine the NAIA West’s automatic berth in the national championships. Cal State San Marcos will be eligible for a berth in the grouping’s postseason tournament based on its final NAIA West ranking.
College of Idaho returns 23 letterwinners and eight starters from last year’s club, which went 30-26 and finished 28th in the final NAIA poll. Top returning pitchers include Jake Bottari (4-1, 3.18 ERA) and Andrew Brock (4-1, 4.09); top returning hitters include infielder/outfielder Brad Carlsen (.320, 7 HR, 31 RBIs), third baseman Bryan Champ (.291-1-22), outfielders Jake Miller (.344-3-29) and Cody Brubaker (.300-3-34), and shortstop Alex O’Brien (.340-2-27).
The Yotes, under the direction of ninth-year head coach Shawn Humberger, tallied five first-place votes to lead the balloting in the North Division in addition to earning five first-place votes for the overall championship.
University of British Columbia, Concordia and Corban finished 2-3-4 in North Division balloting.
Oregon Tech was favored to win the South Division crown, totaling 26 points and five first-place votes. OIT was followed by Bethany, Simpson and Patten in the South Division balloting.
NAIA West grouping play gets underway Feb. 20. The NAIA West postseason tournament is slated for May 4-6 at the site of the team ranked highest in the NAIA West’s final regular season poll. Action in the NAIA Championships gets underway May 12 with nine five-team opening-round tournaments around the country. The winners of those opening-round tournaments will join host Lewis-Clark State for the NAIA World Series May 22-29 in Lewiston, Idaho.