Baseball Poll motivates SAGU Lions
SAGU begins season on Jan. 25-26
Conference coaches pick LSUS as top team
WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- The Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) baseball coaches recently rated the ten teams who will be competing this season. To no one’s surprise the two clubs who were ranked at the end of last season are again chosen as the teams to beat.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University enters this season, their last one in the RRAC, seeking to rise from the cellar. They have finished there in each of the past three seasons.
That is also where the league coaches predict they will be when the 2013 season ends in May. Second year Head Coach Jonathan Shockley is rebuilding the Lions, who went 14-28 a year ago.
Shockley says that while there is much work to be done, that “we will earn our respect this year.”
An influx of freshmen and new starting returners will soon fuel the SAGU Lions when they begin practices in January.
The team will play many of their home games on campus this season, starting with a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26. Hillsdale College, of Moore, Oklahoma, is the opponent.
The park has short fence in rightfield, 295-feet from the plate. The leftfield barrier is 320-feet down the line. Both include a fence that is 24-feet tall.
The power alleys are 365-feet from home, with straight-away centerfield measured at 403 feet.
Other scheduled dates will be played at the Waxahachie Sports Complex, which is just north of highway 287.
The Lions schedule and roster will be announced in the coming weeks.
Coaches rate Louisiana State University in Shreveport, who spent most all of last season ranked no. 1 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), are the favorites again in 2013.
In 13 years under their coach, Rocke Musgraves, the Pilots have racked up a 544-258. They were 54-6 in 2012 and 47-12 in 2011.
Finishing second in the pre-season poll is Texas Wesleyan University. Behind Coach Mike Jeffcoat, Wesleyan finished 33-21. They began the year at 22-6. He has produced eight 30-win seasons in the past 10 years.
The remainder of the schedule is listed below.
Nine of the ten coaches participated in the poll, all of them placing LSUS in the top spot.
Contact: Mark “Link” Warde, SAGU Sports Information Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 469-658-2847.
2013 RRAC Coaches Pre-Season Poll
Rank Team Mascot Location 2012 Record
1 LSU-Shreveport Pilots Shreveport, La 54-6
2 Texas Wesleyan University Rams Ft. Worth, Tx 33-21
3 Northwood University Knights Cedar Hill, Tx 24-20-1
4 Bacone College Warriors Muskogee, Ok 29-25
5 Texas College Steers Tyler, Tx 27-24-1
6 University of the Southwest Mustangs Hobbs, NM 21-28
7 Wiley College Wildcats Marshall, Tx 14-23
8 Huston-Tillotson University Rams Austin, Tx 6-37
9 Jarvis Christian College Bulldogs Hawkins, Tx 7-30*
10 SAGU Lions Waxahchie, Tx 14-28
*Jarvis did not field a team in 2012. Their record is from 2011.
