ROCK HILL, S.C. The Coker University baseball team was picked ninth in the 2019 South Atlantic Conference preseason coaches' poll, announced by the league today (Monday, Jan. 20).
Defending conference champion Catawba topped the poll with 128 points and eight first place votes, with Newberry ranked second with 124 points and four first-place votes. Lincoln Memorial was third with 111 points, and Wingate came in fourth totaling 98 points. Tusculum was selected fifth (95), Carson-Newman sixth (84), Lenoir Rhyne seventh (72), and Anderson (S.C.) was eighth with 58 points. The Cobras were tabbed to finish ninth, receiving 47 points. Queens (44), Mars Hill (37), and UVA-Wise (26) rounded out the poll.
Coker won 17 games in 2019, including seven conference wins and a trip to the conference tournament. The Cobras are returning 19 players from last year's team, including All-Conference honorable mention selection Casey Demko, and All-Defensive Team selection Lake Lybrand. Demko finished the season with a .295 batting average with 22 runs batted in. Lybrand made an impact with the bat and glove, batting .281 with a fielding percentage of .989, only committing two errors the entire season. Coker will be adding to their talented group with a freshman class of 15 and seven transfers. This will mark the first season under interim head coach Bob McLaughlin, and Adam Vasil as the new pitching coach.
The Cobras open the 2020 campaign on Feb. 1 when they play host to Chowan University Hawks. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m. from Tom J. New Field at Dave Schmotzer Stadium, with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.