Orangeburg, N.Y. (2/3/16)  The Dominican College baseball team tied for second place in the leagues 2016 preseason coaches poll which was announced today by Commissioner Dan Mara.

Dominican finished with 96 total points and one first place vote to tie with Chestnut Hill College to tie for second place.

Wilmington University, the defending CACC Champions, took the top spot with nine first place votes and 119 total points.

Chestnut Hill (29-14) also returns a pair of All-CACC honorees in 2016 in Brendan Looby andAlec Craig. Looby, a senior who can play a myriad of positions, earned first-team accolades last season in the designated hitter spot with a .273 average, one homer and 26 RBI. He ranked among the top-20 in the league in runs driven in (16th), walks (16th, 20), sacrifice hits (8th, 3) and stolen bases (7th, 20). Craig, a sophomore, racked up second-team honors at second base after ranking in the top-20 in runs (13th, 31) and triples (17th, 2). He also ranked sixth in turning 25 double plays on the year.

Dominican, which advanced to the semifinals of the baseball championship last spring and was 20-25 overall, will return three second-team all-conference performers this year. The trio includes first baseman Carlos Lopez, outfielder Jayson Gray and relief pitcher Corey Pic. Lopez batted .321 with three homers and 35 RBI in 2015, as the final two totals were good for seventh in the league. He also drew 31 walks, which paced the CACC in that category. Gray led the conference with 25 stolen bases and crossed home plate 34 times for the seventh-highest mark in the league. Pic converted six saves to finish second the CACC in that category, while also compiling a 3-1 record overall.

The remainder of the CACC Preseason Poll included Post University and Felician University in a tie for fourth place with 91 points. The Eagles, who were the fourth team to reach the conference semis last year, also received a first-place vote in the poll. Concordia College was sixth (64), while Nyack College and Philadelphia University tied for seventh (41 points). Caldwell University was ninth with 37 points, Bloomfield College was 10th with 31 points, and University of the Sciences rounded out the list in 11th with 19 points.

Several CACC schools will begin their 2016 seasons later in February as the campaign will culminate with the CACC Baseball Championship First Round on May 7, followed by the final four on May 12-14 at Wilmington University. The top-six teams from the regular season standings will advance to the conference's post-season tournament with the top-two seeds getting a bye into the final weekend, while seeds three through six will square off in the first round.

The winner of the CACC Championship will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA East Regional Tournament at a site to be determined.

The 2016 CACC Baseball season will also mark the final campaign before a major shift in the structure of the sport at the conference level goes into effect for 2017. In 2017, the league will move to a North-South Division format, as 12 schools will sponsor the sport when Goldey-Beacom College returns to varsity status. The conference schedule will expand from 20 to 32 games and the post-season field will increase from six to eight teams. For more information on how the 2017 season will unfold, please CLICK HERE.

The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Nyack College, Philadelphia University, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.

2016 CACC BASEBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Wilmington 119 (9)
T2. Chestnut Hill 96 (1)
T2. Dominican 96
T4. Post 91 (1)
T4. Felician 91
6. Concordia 64
T7. Nyack 41
T7. Philadelphia 41
9. Caldwell 37
10. Bloomfield 31
11. USciences 19