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COUGARS CHOSEN FIRST IN CACC PRESEASON BASEBALL POLL
2-10-09
CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College baseball team, ranked 28th
nationally, was picked to win the Central Atlantic Collegiate
Conference in 2009, according to the conference's Preseason Baseball
Poll conducted by the leagues' 10 head coaches. The Cougars, who won
a school-record 34 games en route to capturing the CACC Tournament
last season, received four first-place votes and 90 points, 11 more
than Dominican College and Philadelphia University, which tied for
second in the poll.
Caldwell returns the core of the squad that has advanced to two
straight NCAA Division II Northeast Region Tournaments while winning
at least a share of the CACC regular-season crown the past two
seasons. Sixteen players, including five of their top eight hitters
and their top four starting pitchers, are back from last year's team
that finished 34-19 overall and went 19-8 in the CACC to tie for
first with Philadelphia. Junior right-hander Robert Casal
(Howard Beach, NY/St. Francis), the 2008 CACC Pitcher of the Year,
leads the Cougars' pitching staff that ranked fifth nationally with
a team earned run average of 3.11. Senior starters Stephen Pfeil
(Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton Acad.), who joined Casal on the all-CACC
first team,
and Eric Hines (Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) also return, as does
junior reliever Buddy Riggs (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella).
Riggs set a school record with five saves last season.
Two-time all-CACC first team outfielder Adric Saxon (Coral
Springs, FL/Broward CC) leads the Cougars offensively, having posted
23 home runs and 104 runs batted in during his two years at
Caldwell. Fellow juniors Ray Keelan (Barnegat, NJ/Southern
Regional), a two-time all-CACC second team choice, and Omar Velazquez
(Astoria, NY/Long Island City), who earned all-CACC honorable
mention as a pitcher and outfielder, also return to bloster the
Cougars' lineup. The other seniors on the team along with Hines and
Pfeil are infielder Aaron Hoffstatter (Glasco,
NY/Saugerties), who started 19 games in 2008, and outfielder
Jorge Torres (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella), a two-time member of
the CACC All-Academic Team who has 102 career hits.
Jay
Messina takes over the program after serving as an assistant coach
at Caldwell for the past five years. During his time at Caldwell,
the Cougars have made three appearances in the NCAA Northeast
Regional, won two CACC Tournament titles and clinched two CACC
regular-season crowns.
The Cougars open the 2009 season on Mar. 12 with a non-conference
game at Pace University.
2009 CACC Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll
| School | 2008 Records | Points | |
| 1. | Caldwell (4) | 34-19 (19-8 CACC) | 90 |
| 2. | Dominican (3) | 28-25 (18-9) | 79 |
| Philadelphia U. (2) | 22-22 (19-8) | 79 | |
| 4. | Wilmington | 26-26 (17-10) | 76 |
| 5. | Felician (1) | 26-24 (17-10) | 66 |
| 6. | Post | 25-25 (16-11) | 51 |
| 7. | Nyack | 12-29 (10-17) | 42 |
| 8. | Bloomfield | 16-36 (7-20) | 29 |
| 9. | USP | 11-34 (7-20) | 20 |
| 10. | Chestnut Hill | 7-34 (5-22) | 18 |
( ) - First-place
votes
