Feb. 10, 2010

click here for coaches' preseason All-OVC team

Eastern Illinois was selected as the favorite in the Ohio Valley Conference in voting by the league’s head coaches and released by the conference office.

The Panthers, the defending OVC regular-season champion, received three first-place votes and 59 points to edge Jacksonville State, which garnered four first-place votes and 56 points. Tennessee Tech, the 2009 OVC Tournament champion, earned the final two first-place votes and got 51 points to place third.

Murray State received 43 points to sit in fourth, followed by Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky, Southeast Missouri, Austin Peay and UT Martin.

The 62nd season of OVC baseball begins on Friday, Feb. 19. The first weekend of league is March 27-28. The 2010 OVC Tournament will be May 26-30 at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn.

2010 Predicted Order of Finish

(2009 OVC/overall records, points, first-place votes)

1 Eastern Illinois (14-4, 36-14) 59 (3)

2 Jacksonville State (10-13, 31-26) 56 (4)

3 Tennessee Tech (10-11-1, 31-24-1) 51 (2)

4 Murray State (13-8-1, 34-21-1) 43

5 Morehead State (12-10, 20-32) 33

6 Eastern Kentucky (10-13, 27-24) 26

7 Southeast Missouri (12-11, 26-25) 25

8 Austin Peay (7-12, 22-30) 22

9 UT Martin (9-15, 20-31) 9