The American Rivers Conference Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll has been released. Simpson College was picked to finish in 5th in the conference, while Central College was picked to finish 9th. 

The Storm are coming off a sixth-place finish in the standings last year after going 18-23 overall and 14-18 in the league. Simpson won seven of its 10 games last May to close the regular season before going 1-2 in the conference tournament. In the tournament the Storm defeated 3rd seeded Loras in the opening round but were eliminated with losses to 2nd seeded Luther and then to Loras.

The Dutch are coming off of a 14-27 season with a 10-22 conference record ending in an eighth-place finish. Central struggled down the stretch dropping seven of their final 10 games before sneaking into the American Rivers Conference tournament with a win in the play-in game against 9 seed Nebraska Wesleyan.  The Dutch finished the year with losses to top seeded Coe College and 5th seeded Dubuque. 

Coe College was picked to finish in first place.

The Simpson Baseball team begins their season on Saturday March 5th in Topeka, Kansas with a doubleheader against Carthage College. Central’s Baseball season begins with a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 8th against the University of Wisconsin-Superior at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.