RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – When the Great American Conference preseason baseball poll was released Tuesday afternoon by the league offices, the Northwestern Oklahoma State University baseball team found themselves picked to finish ninth by the league coaches.

Northwestern finished the 2018 season with a 24-25 overall mark. The Rangers closed the year at 16-17 in league play, placing them in the ninth spot in the standings.

Southern Arkansas was selected by the conference coaches to finish atop the 2019 standings with 114 total votes and seven first place votes. Oklahoma Baptist had three first place votes in the second spot and Arkansas-Monticello was third with two first place votes.

Much like the way the way last season's standings filled out, the coaches believe the conference will be hotly contested yet again. Eight teams wrapped the 2018 campaign with a winning conference record and the Rangers were close behind. The final two of six conference tournament spots were not decided until the final day of the season.

Tuesday's release of the preseason poll reflected the way things played out last year as nearly every team from one to nine were within reach of the team above them in the total points accumulated in the voting.

Arkansas Tech was picked to finish fifth this season, followed closely behind by Henderson State. Southwestern Oklahoma State, Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma State were selected in consecutive order for the sixth, seventh and eighth place spots.

Following the Rangers, Ouachita Baptist was selected to finish 10th and Southern Nazarene and East Central came in at 11th and 12th, respectively.

Northwestern will begin its 2019 season at Myers Stadium and Glass Family Field on Feb. 2 when they host a doubleheader against Christian Brothers (Tenn.), followed by a single nine-inning contest versus CBU on Feb. 3.

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