NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Augustana was picked to defend its College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) baseball title in 2015 according to a preseason coaches’ poll conducted Wednesday.

The Vikings (29-12, 15-6) won the poll with 48 points and six first place votes after winning their first conference regular season title in 40 years last season.

Illinois Wesleyan (24-20, 14-7) was second with 43 points and two first place votes. The Titans won the CCIW tournament title last season and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship for the fifth-straight season and seventh time in the last eight years.

North Park (23-17, 13-8) placed third with 34 points after the Vikings qualified for the CCIW Baseball Tournament for the fifth-straight season in 2014.

North Central (27-15, 12-9) was fourth with 31 points as the Cardinals finished second in the CCIW Baseball Tournament last season. Ed Mathey, who coached the program from 1994-2002, returned in November to again lead North Central.

Wheaton (23-17, 11-10) was fifth with 25 points, followed by Carthage (20-19, 9-12) in sixth with 19 points, Elmhurst (15-22, 9-12) in seventh with 15 points and Millikin (9-31, 1-20) in eighth with nine points.

Voting for the preseason poll is conducted by the CCIW's head baseball coaches. Each coach votes for the seven other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (seven points for first, six for second, etc.). Coaches do not vote for their own teams.

Twitter: @CCIW_Athletics

The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services eight member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2013-14 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,400 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 33 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and 87 all-Americans.