Southern Miss picked up eight first-place votes and claimed the top spot in the Conference USA preseason poll.
Louisiana Tech got a pair of first-place votes to place second, followed by Florida Atlantic, Rice, FIU, Charlotte, UTSA, UAB, Old Dominion, WKU, Marshall and Middle Tennessee.
Matt Wallner of Southern Miss was named Preseason Player of the Year, while Matt Canterino of Rice was voted Pitcher of the Year.
2019 PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS
(as selected by C-USA’s head coaches)
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Southern Miss (8)
2. Louisiana Tech (2)
3. Florida Atlantic (1)
4. Rice (1)
5. FIU
6. Charlotte
7. UTSA
8. UAB
9. Old Dominion
10. WKU
11. Marshall
12. Middle Tennessee
(first place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Matt Wallner, Southern Miss (Junior, OF/P)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Matt Canterino, Rice (Junior, RHP)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
SP: Logan Bailey, Sr., Louisiana Tech
SP: Matt Canterino, Jr., Rice
SP: Walker Powell, Jr., Southern Miss
SP: Stevie Powers, Sr., Southern Miss
RP: Zach Schneider, Sr., Florida Atlantic
C: Rey Pastrana, Sr., Marshall
IF: Bryan Arias, Sr., UTSA
IF: Hunter Slater, Sr., Southern Miss
IF: Austin Shenton, Jr., FIU
IF: Hunter Wells, Jr., Louisiana Tech
OF: Parker Bates, Jr., Louisiana Tech
OF: Blake Benefield, Sr., Middle Tennessee
OF: Matt Wallner, Jr., Southern Miss
DH/UT: Logan Allen, So., FIU