NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Carthage was picked to win the 2016 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) baseball title according to the results of a preseason coaches’ poll announced Wednesday.
The Red Men (30-15, 12-9) won the poll with 45 points and four first place votes as Carthage is coming off a 2015 CCIW Tournament title and NCAA Division III Baseball Regional appearance. The conference tournament title was the 12th for the program and first since 2011. It was also the Red Men’s 19th NCAA appearance.
Illinois Wesleyan (27-16, 12-9) tied for second in the poll with 37 points and two first place votes after the Titans finished tied for third with Carthage in the CCIW standings and qualified for their 12th-straight CCIW Tournament in 2015.
Defending CCIW regular season champion North Central (26-16, 16-5) also finished with 37 points and one first place vote. The regular season title was the Cardinals’ 11th in school history and first since 2010. Head coach Ed Mathey returned to the program last season after a 12-year run as the head coach at Northern Illinois. It was Mathey’s fourth regular season title at North Central.
Wheaton (21-21, 14-7) placed fourth with 36 points and one first place vote as the Thunder are coming off a second place finish and their first CCIW Tournament appearance since 2013 last season.
2014 regular season champion Augustana (26-14, 10-11) was fifth with 28 points, followed by North Park (18-22, 7-14) in sixth with 21 points, Millikin (17-22, 7-14) in seventh with 13 points and Elmhurst (13-27, 6-15) in eighth with seven points.
Voting is done 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.
The CCIW baseball season begins with Augustana’s spring trip on February 21, while the conference portion of the schedule begins the weekend of April 1-3.
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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 2014-15 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,500 academic all-conference recipients, 19 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 46 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and 102 all-Americans.