Jan. 23, 2007

RICHARDSON, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' baseball team was picked second in the preseason poll of the head coaches, sports information directors and media of the American Southwest Conference and HSU senior third baseman Brad Coleman and junior pitcher Dalton Rucker were named the preseason ASC Player and Pitcher of the Year.

The Cowboys, who went 28-17 last season and advanced to the ASC Tournament, return all nine position starters and most of its pitching staff. Two Division I transfers - Jeff Walker and Nathan Copeland - are expected to step into the HSU weekend rotation and give the Cowboys one of their best teams in recent memory.

Two-time defending ASC champion Texas Lutheran was picked to win the West Division with 145 points and nine of 18 possible first-place votes. Head coach Bill Miller's Bulldogs finished 35-13 overall and reached the NCAA Division III West Regional championship game last season. Hardin-Simmons was just five points away from TLU (140) and had eight first-place votes.

McMurry University (114 pts.) garnered a top-spot vote and came in third, followed by fellow 2006 ASC tournament team Concordia University at Austin (99 pts.). Howard Payne University (79 pts.), University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (65 pts.), Schreiner University (54 pts.) and Sul Ross State University (24 pts.) rounded out the West. Schreiner landed the final two first-place votes.

Coleman is coming off a season in which he hit .376 with three home runs and 39 RBIs. Rucker was the ASC Pitcher of the Year last season with an 8-3 record and a 2.90 ERA.

HSU opens the season on Feb. 9 at Hunter Field against Oklahoma Baptist.