NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Defending conference co-champion North Central was picked to win the 2017 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) baseball title according to the conference’s annual preseason coaches’ poll announced Wednesday.
 
The Cardinals (30-14, 15-6) won the poll with 61 points and seven first place votes after the program won a share of the regular season title last year and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
 
Illinois Wesleyan (24-19, 13-8) tied for second with 51 points and two first place votes after the Titans qualified for the CCIW Tournament for the 13th-straight year in 2016.
 
Augustana (30-14, 15-6) was also second with 51 points as the Vikings won a share of the CCIW title and won the conference tournament last season. Augustana earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, its first NCAA postseason appearance since 2013.
 
2017 CCIW Tournament qualifier Carthage (19-22, 11-10) was fourth with 44 points, while Wheaton (23-17, 10-11) was fifth with 41 points and North Park (15-25, 6-15) was sixth with 25 points.
 
Millikin (16-23, 5-16), Elmhurst (21-19, 9-12) and Carroll (17-19, 6-9 in the Midwest Conference) rounded out the poll with 21, 19 and 11 points respectively. The Pioneers are back in the CCIW for the first time since the 1992 season.
 
Voting is done by the CCIW's head baseball coaches. Each coach votes for the eight other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (eight points for first, seven for second, etc.). Coaches do not vote for their own teams.
 
The CCIW baseball season begins February 18.
 
Twitter & Instagram: @CCIW_Athletics
 
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), 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 2015-16 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,600 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 36 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and over 100 all-Americans.