Official NWC Release

HILLSBORO, Ore. — The Northwest Conference released its annual preseason coaches' poll for the sport of baseball on Tuesday with Pacific Lutheran University picked to finish third in the league standings. 

The Lutes sit third overall in the preseason poll after collecting 49 points. Defending NWC Champion Pacific University sits atop the poll with 63 points and seven of the nine first-place votes. Linfield University is second in the rankings with 52 points and one first place vote while George Fox University rounds out the top four with 45 points and the remaining first place endorsement. 

Willamette University is fifth with 37 points followed by Lewis & Clark College and Whitman College tied for sixth with 24 points. University of Puget Sound was picked eighth with 20 points followed by Whitworth University in ninth (10 points).

PLU finished the 2022 campaign with a 22-18 overall record and a 13-11 mark in conference play, qualifying for the NWC Tournament for a record seventh consecutive year. The Lutes open the 2023 campaign on Feb. 3, squaring off against Linfield University before beginning the NWC slate on Feb. 18 against Lewis & Clark.