Pitcher Schuster named preseason All-OVC; SIUE baseball team picked seventh

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Senior starting pitcher P.J. Schuster (Willowbrook, Illinois) has been named to the preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference team, while league head coaches and sports information personnel have picked SIUE baseball to finish seventh in this season's OVC race.

Schuster led the team in wins with an 8-3 record in 2015. His eight wins were tied for the most in the regular season and second overall in the OVC. He paced the Cougars with 73 strikeouts, which were seventh in the OVC. He was an All-OVC second team pick following the season.

The Cougars were picked seventh in the preseason poll, released today by the OVC, despite finishing third in the regular season last year with a 19-11 record. SIUE won seven OVC series last year, including three by sweep.

Southeast Missouri was picked to repeat as regular season champions. The Redhawks have won each of the last two regular season titles. SEMO garnered 19 of 22 first-place votes. Jacksonville State was picked second, followed by Austin Peay, last season's tournament champion, Morehead State was picked fourth. Belmont and Tennessee Tech were picked fifth and sixth in front of SIUE.  Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, UT Martin and Eastern Illinois followed SIUE in the poll.

OVC Preseason Poll - Points

1. Southeast Missouri (19 first-place votes) - 199

2. Jacksonville State - 151

3. Austin Peay (2) - 150

4. Morehead State) - 145

5. Belmont - 134

6. Tennessee Tech (1) - 126

7. SIUE - 101

8. Eastern Kentucky - 74

9. Murray State - 59

10. UT Martin - 46

11. Eastern Illinois - 25

(10 points awarded for a first-place vote, 9 for second, etc. - Coaches/SID's could not vote for their own teams) 

Preseason All-OVC Team

C-Tyler Lawrence, Murray State

1B-Ryan Rippee, Southeast Missouri

2B-Tyler Fullerton, Belmont

SS-Branden Boggetto, Southeast Missouri

3B-Logan Gray, Austin Peay

OF-Kyle Nowlin, Eastern Kentucky

OF-Demetre Taylor, Eastern Illinois

OF-TJ Alas, Eastern Kentucky

OF-Jake Rowland, Tennessee Tech

DH-Paschal Petrongolo, Jacksonville State

UT-Alex Robles, Austin Peay

SP-Joey Lucchesi, Southeast Missouri

SP-Alex Robles, Austin Peay

SP-P.J. Schuster, SIUE

SP-Luke Humphreys, Morehead State

SP-Aaron Quillen, Belmont

RP-Justin Hoyt, Jacksonville State

RP-Patrick Bernard, UT Martin