RICHARDSON, Texas – Coming off an American Southwest Conference regular season title, the Concordia Texas baseball team was picked to win the league in 2019 as the preseason poll was announced on Wednesday.

The Tornados, who went 29-18 (18-6 ASC) winning the regular season crown and coming up short in the conference tournament championship series last season, earned 290 points and 17 of the 25 first-place votes to win the conference title in the preseason poll.

UT Dallas, the reigning conference tournament champions, followed behind CTX with 273 points and seven first-place votes, while Sul Ross State rounded out the top three with 221 points. The conference's head coaches and sports information directors voted on the poll.

Carson Cox and Matthew Williams, both ASC First Team selections in 2018, were named to the Players to Watch list.

Cox was a key cog for the Tornados in his first year on campus. Cox led the team in hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage in 2018.

He was named the ASC Newcomer of the Year and earned all-region first team honors from D3Baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings. It is the second preseason honor for Cox, who was named to D3Baseball.com's Preseason All-American Team earlier this year.

Williams, meanwhile, looks to build on his strong sophomore performance. In 17 starts, Williams produced a 7-4 record, struck out 86 batters and posted a 3.69 ERA. He would also toss four complete games, including two shutouts, and held hitters to a .234 batting average.

Concordia Texas would reach their second straight NCAA West Regional last season, before falling to Willamette.

The Tornados will open their season on the road in Grand Prairie, Texas, where they will face Linfield on Feb. 8 at 11 a.m. at Quicktrip Field.
 

2019 ASC Baseball Preseason Poll

Rank	Team (1st place votes)	Pts.	2018 Record (ASC)
1.	Concordia Texas (17)	290	29-18 (18-6)
2.	UT Dallas (7)	273	32-17 (17-7)
3.	Sul Ross State (1)	221	23-19 (17-7)
4.	East Texas Baptist	207	21-21 (11-13)
5.	Hardin-Simmons	194	16-27 (12-12)
6.	Ozarks	172	20-20 (14-10)
7.	LeTourneau	151	23-19 (13-11)
8.	Howard Payne	115	21-19 (9-15)
	Louisiana College	115	20-14 (9-14)
10.	McMurry	83	13-25 (7-17)
11.	Belhaven #	77	12-27 (7-16)
12.	Mary Hardin-Baylor	56	10-29 (6-18)
--	UT Tyler &	--	40-18 (15-9)

# Eligible for ASC regular season title/ineligible for ASC Championship/NCAA Championship (NCAA Division III Provisional)
& Ineligible for ASC regular season title/ASC Championship/NCAA Championship (NCAA Division II Reclassifying)
 

2019 ASC Baseball Preseason Players to Watch Players selected by their respective head coach Position Players Name Cl. Pos. School Evan Moore So. OF Belhaven Carson Cox * Sr. 2B/SS Concordia Texas Zach Gartner * Sr. OF East Texas Baptist John Tople * Jr. 3B Hardin-Simmons Noah Payne * Sr. OF Howard Payne Jacob Jones Sr. OF LeTourneau Keelyn Johnson So. SS Louisiana College Landon Dieterich Jr. OF Mary Hardin-Baylor Nick Hamel * So. 1B McMurry Breyden Varner * Sr. IF Ozarks Wesley Moss * Sr. OF Sul Ross State Ryan Burciaga * Sr. 2B UT Dallas Graham Welch * Sr. OF/LHP UT Tyler   Pitchers Name Cl. Pos. School David Hall Jr. RHP Belhaven Matthew Williams * Jr. RHP Concordia Texas Derrick Findley * Jr. LHP East Texas Baptist Jaxon Terrell So. RHP Hardin-Simmons Xavier Haines Jr. RHP Howard Payne Will Bradshaw * Jr. RHP LeTourneau Deauton Delgado * Sr. RHP Louisiana College Cameron Whitman Fr. RHP Mary Hardin-Baylor Jack Poe Jr. RHP McMurry Dalton Spurgeon Sr. RHP Ozarks Aaron Marquez * Sr. RHP Sul Ross State Logan McPherson Jr. RHP UT Dallas Nate Imig Sr. RHP UT Tyler   *2018 All-Conference