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The University of Utah Athletics
Mountain West Conference Preview
1/23/2002 12:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 23, 2002
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State University received four first-place votes to headline the 2002 Mountain West Conference preseason baseball coaches' poll, marking the third straight year SDSU has been tabbed the MWC favorite.
The Aztecs collected 24 points to capture the top spot in the poll. BYU received two first-place votes and 22 points to place second in the poll, followed by Utah at No. 3 with 14 points, No. 4 UNLV with 12 points, No. 5 New Mexico with 11 points and No. 6 Air Force with five points.
San Diego State posted a 34-26 overall record last season, while finishing second in the MWC regular season at 19-11 and placing second at the MWC Championship. Despite winning the regular season and conference tournament titles a year ago, the Cougars (38-22, 21-8 MWC) placed second in this year's poll.
Utah, 27-29 last season, and New Mexico, 26-34 a year ago, tied for third place in the 2001 MWC race at 14-16. UNLV finished fifth last season with a 23-33 overall record and a 13-17 conference slate, while Air Force was 23-33 overall and 8-21 in the MWC.
BYU opens the third Mountain West Conference baseball season with a three-game set at Texas Tech Jan. 24-26, while Air Force, New Mexico and Utah also open regular season play this week. The Red Raiders are ranked 26th in the Baseball America preseason poll.
The MWC returns 13 all-conference performers from a year ago, including Freshman of the Year Mike Westfall of Utah. BYU returns Kanoia Obrey (Jr., 3B), Doug Jackson (Jr., OF) and Matt Carson (Jr., OF), while San Diego State returns Taber Lee (Jr., SS), Royce Ring (Jr., P) and Rory Shortell (Jr., P). New Mexico returns a pair of all-MWC performers in Troy Cairns (Jr., 2B) and Anthony Lovato (Sr., DH), while Utah returns Mike Westfall (So., 3B) and Nate Weese (Sr., 1B) and UNLV returns David Trujillo (Sr., 1B).
MWC Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll
Pl. Team (1st votes) Points
1. San Diego State (4) 24
2. BYU (2) 22
3. Utah 14
4. UNLV 12
5. New Mexico 11
6. Air Force 5
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