Burnsville, Minn. – The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference release this morning the 2019 NSIC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Northern State Wolves were picked eighth overall in the league with 109 total points.
Northern State enters the 2019 season after posting a 22-20 record in 2018 and finishing in eighth place in the NSIC. The Wolves entered the conference tournament as an eight seed and finished the tournament going 2-2. NSU returns four position players that started most of the games, Stilson, Barreneche, Hall, and Adams. NSU also returned seven pitchers that threw multiple innings for the Wolves, Farmer, Hunziker, Chevalier, Wiesmann, Jones, Hartford, and Ragatz.
Dakota Stilson is one of the players to watch for the Wolves. The senior from Clovis, California started in 41 games behind the plate hitting .347 with 14 doubles, 2 home runs, and 33 runs batted in. He was named to the NSIC All-Conference second team this past season.
Luke Chevalier was also a player to watch in the NSIC. Luke, a senior right-handed pitcher from Barnstable, Massachusetts, appeared in 14 games on the mound with a 2.76 ERA with four wins and three shutouts in 62.0 innings.
The Wolves open the 2019 season at the Russmatt Invitational in Kissimmee, Florida. NSU will play 11 games in Florida opening up with the National Champs in NCAA Division III UT-Tyler. The Wolves then open conference play at Winona State on March 16th.
NSIC Preseason Poll
| 1. Augustana (13) |
193 |
| 2. Minnesota State (2) |
175 |
| 3. Minot State |
172 |
| 4. St. Cloud State |
162 |
| 5. Concordia-St. Pau |
139 |
| 6. Wayne State |
121 |
| 7. Winona State |
115 |
| 8. Northern State |
109 |
| 9. Minnesota Duluth |
91 |
| 10. Minnesota Crookston |
67 |
| 11. Sioux Falls |
65 |
| 12. SMSU |
55 |
| Upper Iowa |
55 |
| 14. Bemidji State |
34 |
| 15. University of Mary |
22 |
| First place votes in ( ) |
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