ATLANTA – Lipscomb is favored to capture the 2024 Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball title after being selected to the top spot in the preseason coaches poll, announced by the league office Thursday.
The Bisons went 36-26 last season, including a 23-7 mark in conference play, and captured their third ASUN Championship. FGCU was selected second in the coaches poll after finishing runner-up in the 2023 postseason. Jacksonville, Stetson, Kennesaw State and Austin Peay rounded the top half of the preseason rankings in third through sixth place, respectively.
The Governors' Lyle Miller-Green was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year. The graduate student was a Second Team All-ASUN selection last season after finishing the year with 80-plus hits and 15-plus home runs. Lipscomb's Trace Willhoite followed up his 2023 All-ASUN Second Team nod with the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He started all 62 games last season for the Bisons and logged 40 putouts, 84 assists, with a .912 fielding percentage and just 12 errors during the 2023 season. Evan Chrest, the 2023 Freshman of the Year from Jacksonville, enters the spring as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Last year, he went 8-2 in 15 starts, tied for most in the league, and was named a Second Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball.
2024 Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Lipscomb (7), 137
2. FGCU (2), 123
3. Jacksonville (1), 115
4. Stetson, 103
5. Kennesaw State (1), 99
6. Austin Peay (1), 84
7. EKU, 77
8. Central Arkansas, 65
9. North Florida, 56
10. Queens, 30
11. North Alabama, 25
12. Bellarmine, 22
2024 Preseason All-ASUN Team
SP - Jesse Barker, Central Arkansas
SP - Evan Chrest, Jacksonville
SP - Peter Holden, North Florida
RP - Hayden Frank, Lipscomb
C - Austin Kelly, Lipscomb
1B - Kyle Machado, North Alabama
2B - Justin Nadeau, Jacksonville
3B - Trace Willhoite, Lipscomb
SS - Jacob Lojewski, FGCU
OF - Clayton Gray, Austin Peay
OF - Lyle Miller-Green, Austin Peay
OF - Harrison Povey, FGCU
OF - Alex Vergara, Lipscomb
DH - Spencer Hanson, Kennesaw State
*a tie in voting resulted in a 14-person team