2017 UMAC Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll (Feb. 16, 2017)
The University of Wisconsin Superior ranked third in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference's Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll released Thrusday, and the Yellowjackets seek to lock up a return trip to the UMAC Postseason Tournament in their second go-around in the conference relying on returning depth to remain in the upper echelon of the league.
The 20-time defending champion of the UMAC, the College of St. Scholastica, was a unanimous pick to claim the league's top honor again, securing 64 points and eight first-place votes in the league poll. The University of Northwestern ranked second, claiming the other first-place vote, while edging out UW-Superior 55 points to 48. The trio were all tagged ahead of another group of three, as Bethany Lutheran College, Northland College, and Minnesota Morris are all separated by four points, 39, 38, and 35 respectively as the fourth through sixth-ranked teams in the league preview.
After posting an 11-5 record in the conference and 16-19 overall mark a season ago, the Yellowjackets went 1-2 in the league tournament. Head coach
Frank Pufall now joins UW-Superior for his first season, returning eight starters from a season ago including All-UMAC First Team selections senior infielder
Chad Patko (Stone Lake, Wis./Hayward H.S.) and sophomore infielder
Travis Miller (Whittier, Calif./La Serna H.S.). Miller also took home an ABCA All-Region Third Team selection in his rookie campaign, batting .368/.490/.735 with 10 home runs and 36 runs batted in. Patko launched six long balls, batting .359/.430/.675 on the season. The Yellowjackets finished second in the league batting .305 as a team in conference play, and UW-Superior returns 243 of its 373 team hits from 2016.
On the mound, the Yellowjackets will hope that senior right-hander
Grant Schneider (Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial H.S.) can continue a positive trend after posting a career-best 4.88 ERA and 3-3 record in 51.2 innings a year ago. UWS finished sixth in the league in ERA a season ago, returning 156.1 innings out of its staff, but bid farewell to 29.2 low-quality innings from three players accounting for the team's worst individual ERA numbers. One player the Yellowjackets will miss on the mound is 2016 All-UMAC Honorable Mention
Jake Lewis (Proctor, Minn./Proctor), who graduated after last season where he posted a 4.29 ERA and 3-5 record. UW-Superior also bid farewell to another All-UMAC Honorable Mention in outfielder
Elvis Artiles Cuello (Domincan Republic/Colegio Dominicano DeLaSalle), who scored 28 runs a season ago.
Picking up the slack will be 10 freshmen and three transfers new to the Yellowjackets this season. Junior infielder
Jason Steinke (Sebeka, Minn./Sebeka H.S.) comes to UWS after two seasons at Itasca Community College, while a pair of sophomore right-handed pitchers,
Trevor Roszczewski (Minocqua, Wis./Lakeland Union H.S.) (pronounced Rose-ess-key) and
Braeden Barr (San Diego, Calif./Grossmount H.S.) come to the Yellowjackets from Northland College and Oklahoma Wesleyan University, respectively. The first-year players come from all over: one each from the states of Alaska, California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, three from Minnesota, and one from South Africa.
With early season games at U.S. Bank Stadium unfortunately wiped from the schedule, UW-Superior will begin its season with the team's annual trip to Arizona. Regional foes at the Tucson Invitational include Hamline University, Gustavus Adolphus College, Grinnell (Iowa) College, and Kalamazoo (Mich.) University. The Yellowjackets will face nine match-ups in six days under the sun. Following the week in Arizona, UW-Superior returns north where they will be on the road for the first few weeks with early non-conference match-ups against Macalester College on March 29, the University of Chicago on April 1-2, and Gustavus Adolphus once again on April 9.
The Yellowjackets will open UMAC play on Saturday, April 8 at Martin Luther College. UWS will open its home season on Tuesday, April 11 hosting northern Wisconsin rival Northland College in a doubleheader at Ted Whereatt Field. The Yellowjackets will meet the preseason favorite Saitns on the road on Wednesday, April 19 in Duluth at Wade Stadium. Saturday, April 22 will be the team's "pink" game promoting breast cancer awareness, and UWS will host Northwestern on Tuesday, April 25. The conference season concludes with the top four teams colliding in a double-elimination UMAC Baseball Championship Tournament on Thursday - Saturday, May 11-13, hosted by the No. 1 seed.
ON DECK
UW-Superior will open its 2017 season against Allegheny (Pa.) College next month on Sunday, March 19 in Tucson, Arizona. The first pitch between the Yellowjackets and Gators is set for 1:30 p.m. MT.
