Murray State University Athletics
Defending OVC champion 'Breds picked eighth in pre-season poll
2/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Murray State Thoroughbreds -- which overcame stiff odds to win last year's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament -- were picked eighth in this year's pre-season poll, with balloting done by league coaches.
First-year conference member Jacksonville State (32-26 in 2003) was selected for the top slot in close voting. The Gamecocks got five of the 10 first-place votes, taking 73 points in the poll.
Southeast Missouri (32-20, 14-6 OVC in 2003) claimed three first-place votes and finished second in the balloting with 71 points. Defending regular-season champion Austin Peay (27-27-1, 14-5-1 OVC) got one first-place vote and ranked third with 69 points.
Eastern Kentucky (24-29, 8-11 OVC) took one first-place vote and ranked fourth with 51 points, while Eastern Illinois (26-31, 8-12) placed fifth with 48 points. Samford (27-34) was sixth with 40 votes, while Tennessee Tech (27-25, 13-6 OVC) was seventh with 39 points and Murray State (25-31, 9-11 OVC) was eighth with 31 points. Morehead State (16-33, 6-14 OVC) was ninth with 15 points and Tennessee-Martin (17-30-1, 6-14-1 OVC) was 10th with 13 points. Tennessee State does not field a baseball team.
The 'Breds open their 2004 campaign on Feb. 20-22 with a three-game series at Alabama-Birmingham. MSU plays its home-opening series on March 5-7 with a three-game set against Memphis, and kicks off its OVC slate on March 27-28 at Southeast Missouri.
