Baseball Picked Third in SSC Preseason Coaches Poll

Florida Southern College baseball has been picked to finish third in the Sunshine State Conference, according to the 2020 SSC Preseason Coaches Poll released Thursday by the conference office. The Moccasins received 78 points and one first-place vote, while defending national champion Tampa was the favorite with 100 points and the remaining 10 first-place votes. Nova Southeastern, which received 87 points, came in second.

“We have the strongest conference in the country and it comes down to who can execute the little things the most consistently,” said Florida Southern head coach Lance Niekro. “It is nice to be recognized as high as we are, especially with the year we had last year, but we have a lot to work on and every game matters in our conference.”

Embry-Riddle was picked fourth, while Florida Tech rounded out the top five. The final six spots, in order, were Saint Leo, Barry, Lynn, Eckerd, Rollins, and Palm Beach Atlantic. Eckerd was the surprise Sunshine State Conference champion a year ago, finishing 31-19 (19-11 SSC) to win its first conference title in nearly four decades.

The Mocs are hoping to bounce back from an injury-ravaged 2019 season when they went just 23-27. But Southern brings back several key players in 2020, including all-America candidates Jacob Teter and Zach Scott at the corner infield spots. Florida Southern’s pitching staff, which suffered the most from injury last year, is expected to be much improved with a fully healthy battery of arms. Niekro also added several key newcomers during the offseason in the form of both transfers and high-school prospects. One of those is Hunter Fitz-Gerald, who was a 33rd round selection of the Colorado Rockies in the 2019 MLB Draft.

SSC Preseason Coaches Poll

Rank	School (FPV)	Total Points
1	Tampa (10)	100
2	Nova Southeastern	87
3	Florida Southern (1)	78
4	Embry-Riddle	60
5	Florida Tech	58
6	Saint Leo	54
7	Barry	50
8	Lynn	38
9	Eckerd	31
10	Rollins	26
11	Palm Beach Atlantic	23