Cavs Selected Fourth in AAC Coaches Preseason Baseball Poll  

December 11, 2007

Wise, Va. – The Highland Cavalier baseball team will enter the 2008 season slated fourth in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Coaches Preseason poll released on Monday afternoon.

The two league squads who battled for NAIA Region XII supremacy were picked to the top two positions. AAC defending regular season champion 10 th-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan will have the top spot with eight first places votes for 80 points. 19 th-rated Union College, who claimed the regional title in an upset, received the other two top votes as the second rated team with 73 points.

Montreat College garnered third with 62 points ahead of UVa-Wise’s 51 points. King College and Milligan tied for fifth (48 points). Bluefield (35), Bryan (26), Virginia Intermont (14) and Covenant College (13) rounded out the poll in seventh through tenth.

UVa-Wise completed one of its most successful campaigns on the diamond last year. The Cavs set a new standard for season victories with a final mark of 32-17-1. The team also made its first run into the regional playoffs for the first time in five years to take third.

The Cavs will be led by preseason All-American designated hitter Brad Robbins as well as returning All-AAC players pitcher/outfielder Josh Verts, shortstop Jorge Laboy, first baseman/pitcher John Bigley and pitcher David Jones.

UVa-Wise opens it 2008 docket on the road February 8 at Emmanuel (Ga.) College.