Bearcats tabbed 7th in GLVC’s baseball poll

The Great Lakes Valley Conference released its 2016 baseball pre-season poll Wednesday morning.

McKendree University has been tabbed to finish seventh in the GLVC East Division in voting conducted by the league’s 16 head coaches. The Bearcats received a total of 30 points in the balloting. The University of Indianapolis was tabbed as the favorite to win the GLVC East Division, picking up 11 first-place votes and 116 total points. Quincy University garnered 12 first-place votes on its way to 117 points in the balloting as the choice to win the GLVC West Division.

Head coach Jim Boehne enters his 19th season at the helm of the McKendree baseball program. Boehne, the all-time wins leader in team history with 574, has a balanced mix of returnees and newcomers on the Bearcats’ 2016 roster. McKendree has five starters back from last year’s squad along with several other key returnees that saw significant game action a year ago. On the mound, the Bearcats have four starters back from last year’s starting rotation. Boehne and his staff also put together a large recruiting class to blend with the returnees in 2016. McKendree closed the 2015 season with a 9-39 overall record and an 8-28 mark in GLVC play.

The McKendree baseball team is slated to open its new season Feb. 20-22 with a three-game series at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo. The Bearcats will play their first seven games on the road before its first appearance at Hypes Field on March 5 with a non-conference doubleheader against Missouri S & T.

News-Democrat

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Bearcats tabbed 7th in GLVC’s baseball poll."