SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team has been picked third in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Preseason Poll.
 
For each of the past two seasons, Roger Williams has stood on the edge of clinching the CCC Championship. This season, the Hawks look to finally push through and claim the title.
 
Last year, head coach Jason Tower guided the Hawks to a 9-4-1 CCC record while claiming the No. 2 seed in the CCC Tournament for the second straight year. RWU took a pair of wins from No. 3 seed Endicott to earn a trip to the CCC Championship series. RWU would win the opener against No. 4 seed Salve Regina, but the Seahawks logged back-to-back wins to earn the conference championship.
 
This season, the Hawks seek to return to the CCC Championship and hope the third time is a charm. Roger Williams welcomes 11 first-year players in addition to returning six players from last year's starting lineup as well as a majority of the starting rotation. Despite losing the 2019 CCC Defensive Player of the Year in Chris Bosco, RWU still brings back five All-CCC players including the 2019 CCC Pitcher of the Year in junior Connor Hewlette (Deer Park, N.Y.).
 
Salve Regina and Endicott both earned a share of the top spot in the 2020 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll and will enter this year's campaign as the two favorites to claim the CCC Tournament title. Both teams earned 56 points in the poll which was conducted via a vote by the league's eight head baseball coaches last week.
 
Roger Williams was the CCC Tournament runner-up last year and lands in the No. 3 spot in this year's poll with 46 points. The Hawks were the No. 2 seed in last year's tournament and advanced to the CCC Championship Series all the way through the winner's bracket before dropping the series to the eventual champions. Their appearance in the championship round was the first since 2015.
 
Western New England landed fourth in the poll with 44 points and the final first place vote. The Golden Bears were the CCC Regular-Season Champions in 2019 after claiming the tournament title the year before. They went 13-1 in conference play, but were swept in the CCC Pod A Final by the eventual champion Seahawks.
 
Nichols rounded out the top five in the polling with 37 points, while Curry placed sixth with 17. Gordon and Wentworth wrapped up this year's poll, tying for seventh with 16 points each.
 
First pitch of the new year for CCC baseball teams is on Friday, Feb. 21 as Endicott takes on Trinity (Texas) in non-conference action with many other teams getting going later in the week. League play begins on March 21 with three conference doubleheaders on the schedule. The top six teams in the conference standings at the end of the regular season will qualify for the 2020 CCC Championship Tournament, which will begin on Thursday, April 30. The double-elimination tournament will whittle the field down to two teams, which will compete in the best-of-three CCC Championship Series for the conference title. The winner of the Championship Series, which is scheduled for Friday-Saturday, May 8-9, will be named the CCC Tournament Champion and earn the conference's automatic qualifier into the 2020 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
 
2020 CCC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll
 

	Team	Points (First Place Votes)
T-1.	Salve Regina	56 (4)
T-1.	Endicott	56 (3)
3.	Roger Williams	46
4.	Western New England	44 (1)
5.	Nichols	37
6.	Curry	17
T-7.	Gordon	16
T-7.	Wentworth	16

 
 
- Release courtesy of the Commonwealth Coast Conference