SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team has been chosen to finish fourth in the Commonwealth Coast Conference, as announced today in the CCC Preseason Poll.
 
The Roger Williams baseball team showed continued signs of progress last year and looks to handle some unfinished business in the CCC Tournament this season.
 
Last year, head coach Jason Tower was honored as CCC Co-Coach of the Year after guiding RWU to an 11-5 conference record and claiming the No. 2 seed for the CCC Tournament, in addition to a win over No. 4 nationally-ranked UMass Boston. Unfortunately for RWU, the Hawks would be eliminated in the first weekend of the CCC Tournament.
 
The Hawks hope to lean on the strength of their returning veteran presence, as the team only loses two starters in the lineup and two pitchers from the rotation. Roger Williams brings in 12 newcomers to this year's squad in addition to the 12 returning upperclassmen. Three of the RWU returners are 2018 All-CCC selections including senior catcher Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.), who last year led the team in batting average and led the CCC in runners thrown out for the second straight year.
 
Defending Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Baseball Tournament Champion Western New England earned 63 points, including seven first place votes to earn the top spot in the 2019 CCC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
Salve Regina comes in as the second place team in this year's preseason rankings with 54 points and one first place vote. The Seahawks finished as the tournament runner-up, after losing the first two games to Western New England in the best-of-three CCC Championship Series. They finished the regular season as the top seed in the tournament, with a conference record of 12-4 (25-15 overall).
 
Endicott was voted third with 49 points, while Roger Williams finished fourth with 39 points. Gordon finishes out the top five with 29 points.
 
Nichols (25 points), Wentworth (18) and Curry, (11), finished out the rest of the poll.
 
The first baseball game of the season for a CCC team is on Feb. 22 with both Salve Regina and Endicott in non-conference action. The CCC opens conference play this year on Saturday, March 23. Conference doubleheaders will now be two, nine-inning games. The top six teams in the 2019 regular-season conference standings will qualify for the CCC Championship Tournament, which starts with double-elimination pod play on Thursday, May 2. The winners of the two three-team pods will advance to the CCC Championship Series on Friday-Saturday, May 10-11. The winner of the best-of-three series will be named the CCC Tournament Champion will earn the conference's automatic qualifier in to the 2019 NCAA Baseball Championship.
 
 
2019 CCC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll
 

	Team	Points (First Place Votes)
1.	Western New England	63 (7)
2.	Salve Regina	54 (1)
3.	Endicott	49
4.	Roger Williams	39
5.	Gordon	29
6.	Nichols	25
7.	Wentworth	18
8.	Curry	11

 
- Release courtesy of the Commonwealth Coast Conference