CORVALLIS, Ore. – Competing under the Cascade Conference banner in baseball for the first time since 2008, The College of Idaho was picked to finish third as the 2021 CCC Preseason Coaches' Poll was released by the league office.
The Coyotes, who have won a league-best 10 CCC pennants (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) – received 21 voter points from the six league coaches – finishing behind first-year conference member, Lewis-Clark State, and affiliate member, British Columbia.
The CCC sponsored baseball as a sport from 1993-2008, before creating the NAIA West Grouping in 2009 with the California Pacific Conference and members of the Association of Independent Institutions to guarantee post season opportunities once the NAIA moved away from regional competition. With the addition of Eastern Oregon to the league in 2021 – the conference now has six baseball playing schools – enough for an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.
LCSC finished with 35 voter points and five of the first-place votes, with UBC earning the remaining first-place tally and 31 points.
C of I returns all of their position players and their entire starting rotation from the 2020 season that was ended in March due to the CoVID-19 pandemic.
Corban (18 points), Oregon Tech (14) and EOU (7) round out the ranking.
2021 CCC Baseball Coaches' Preseason Poll
Team (First-Place Votes) Points
1. Lewis-Clark State College (5) 35
2. British Columbia (1) 31
3. College of Idaho 21
4. Corban University 18
5. Oregon Tech 14
6. Eastern Oregon University 7
