Jan. 30, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - With the baseball season less than a month away, Conference USA released the 2008 Preseason Coaches Poll Wednesday and UCF was predicted to finish sixth. Senior center fielder Tyson Auer (Longwood, Fla.) and junior first baseman Kiko Vazquez (Sebring, Fla.), meanwhile, earned spots on the Preseason All-Conference Team.
No. 3 Rice received eight first-place votes and 80 total points to rank first in the poll. No. 24 East Carolina picked up the remaining first-place vote en route to second, and No. 33 Southern Miss, No. 22 Tulane and Houston followed the Pirates. Trailing UCF was Memphis, UAB and Marshall, respectively.
The Knights finished eighth last season with a 7-17 C-USA record and an overall mark of 27-32. After dropping the opening game of the C-USA Championship to Rice, UCF eliminated Houston with a 1-0 victory before falling to Memphis the next afternoon. However, during the season the Black and Gold posted at least one win vs. seven different programs that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, as well as road victories against Florida and LSU.
Along with gaining some valuable experience in highly-pressurized games a year ago, UCF returns all eight starting position players, its top three starting pitchers and its closer for 2008. Auer and Vazquez were critical components to the Knights' offense in 2007. Auer spent time at both the leadoff and No. 3 holes in the lineup, and eventually racked up a .356 average with 83 hits and 27 stolen bases. The captain of the outfield also scored 46 runs and had 14 extra-base hits, as he would be named to the All-C-USA Second Team.
Vazquez improved almost all of his offensive numbers from his freshman campaign to grab a spot on the 2007 All-C-USA First Team. He paced the Knights in most of those categories, including collecting a .364 average, 17 doubles, nine homers, 57 RBI, 121 total bases, a .587 slugging percentage, a .467 on-base percentage, 32 walks and six sacrifice flies. Vazquez completed his year with 11 more walks than strikeouts, while in the field he had a .985 fielding percentage at first base.
With two selections to the preseason team, the Knights were one of four programs with at least two student-athletes on the squad (Rice - four, East Carolina - three, UCF - two, Southern Miss - two).
UCF begins full-team practices Friday, and opens the season at home against Florida A&M Feb. 22-24 and No. 6 Missouri Feb. 25. Season tickets as well as single-game tickets are currently available by contacting the UCF Ticket Office at 407-823-1000 or by going online at www.ucfathletics.com.
And for the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
2008 Preseason Baseball Coaches PollPredicted Order of Finish (First Place Votes)1. Rice (8) - 80 pts.2. East Carolina (1) - 613. Southern Miss - 574. Tulane - 525. Houston - 386. UCF - 267. Memphis - 248. UAB - 229. Marshall - 13
Player of the YearAaron Luna, Rice (Jr., OF/DH)
Pitcher of the YearRyan Berry, Rice (So., RHP)
All-Conference TeamP Ryan Berry - So. - RiceP T.J. Hose - Sr. - East CarolinaP Shooter Hunt - Jr. - TulaneRP Cole St. Clair - Sr. - RiceC Adam Zornes - Sr. - RiceIF Stephen Batts - Jr. - East CarolinaIF Jimmy Cesario - Jr. - HoustonIF Brian Dozier - Jr. - Southern MissIF Trey Sutton - Sr. - Southern MissIF Kiko Vazquez - Jr. - UCFOF Tyson Auer - Sr. - UCFOF K.K. Chalmers - Sr. - MemphisOF Harrison Eldridge - Sr. - East CarolinaDH Aaron Luna - Jr. - Rice ="https://ucfknights.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>