Bison Baseball Picked Seventh in The Summit League
1/31/2008 6:00:00 AM | Baseball
ELMHURST, Ill.--The North Dakota State baseball team was picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in The Summit League, according to the preseason coaches poll released Thursday, Jan. 31.
Oral Roberts is the unanimous favorite to win its 11th straight championship. The Golden Eagles return Brendan Duffy, last year's co-Player of the Year who hit .356 with 62 runs, 77 hits and 21 stolen bases, and Freshman All-America pitcher Jerry Sullivan, who was 5-0 with a 2.04 ERA.
Western Illinois was picked second, Centenary was third and South Dakota State was fourth. Southern Utah was picked fifth, Oakland was sixth, and IPFW was eighth.
North Dakota State will have a veteran team under first-year head coach Tod Brown, a former assistant at Bowling Green. The Bison list 10 seniors and eight juniors on the 2008 roster.
NDSU's top returners are senior infielder Ryan Langlais, who hit .355 with 10 home runs and 38 RBIs last year, and senior left-handed pitcher Jake Laber, who was 6-6 with a 3.89 ERA and 68 strikeouts last year.
North Dakota State, South Dakota State and IPFW are in their first year as members of The Summit League. NDSU was 16-31 as a Division I independent last year.
The top four teams in the regular-season standings will advance to the Summit League championship tournament at Oral Roberts May 22-24 with the winner automatically qualifying for an NCAA regional.
North Dakota State and South Dakota State are in their last year of reclassification from Division II to Division I and will not be eligible for the Summit League or NCAA tournaments until 2009.
North Dakota State opens the season with a seven-game road trip to Oklahoma March 4-5 and Kansas March 7-9. Summit League play begins April 4-6 at Oral Roberts, and the Bison make their home debut April 11-13 against Southern Utah.
