NEW ORLEANS – The University of South Alabama baseball team was picked to finish second in the Sun Belt Conference East Division, as voted on by the league's head coaches and announced by the conference office Wednesday.

Defending national champion Coastal Carolina was picked to win the East Division after receiving 10 of 12 first-place votes in the East Division. South Alabama and Georgia Southern received one vote apiece, and were predicted to finish second and third, respectively. Troy was picked to finish fourth in the East Division, followed by Georgia State and Appalachian State.

Louisiana-Lafayette was selected to win the West Division after receiving all 12 first-place votes. Texas-Arlington was picked to finish second in the West Division behind the Ragin' Cajuns, followed by Little Rock, Texas State, Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe.

The 2017 SBC Tournament, hosted by Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga., will be seeded with the division winners as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, with the No. 1 seed awarded to the divisional winner with the best conference winning percentage. Seeds No. 3-10 will be selected based off of winning percentage in conference play, regardless of division.

Also new for the 2017 season, the number of teams competing in the conference tournament will increase from eight to 10, which creates two additional games to be played. First-round games will feature the No. 8 seed against the No. 9 seed, and the No. 7 seed vs. the No. 10 seed, both of which will be single-elimination games on Tuesday of tournament week.  Both winners of the first-round games will advance to join seeds No. 1-6 on Wednesday to continue as a standard eight-team double-elimination tournament. The SBC Tournament championship game is scheduled for Sun., May 28.

South Alabama will open the 2017 season Fri., Feb. 17, when it hosts Eastern Illinois at 6:30 p.m. at Stanky Field.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Dugout Club - the baseball-specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. Members enjoy all games from inside the Stadium Club with climate control, private restrooms, private concessions and access to listen to the radio broadcast. All donations to the Dugout Club go directly to support the South Alabama baseball program. For more information on how you can join visit JaguarAthleticFund.com. 
2017 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Coaches' Preseason Poll
first-place votes in parentheses
 
EAST DIVISION
1. Coastal Carolina (10) - 70 pts
2. South Alabama (1) - 56 pts
3. Georgia Southern (1) - 48 pts
4. Troy - 39 pts
5. Georgia State - 23 pts
6. Appalachian State - 15 pts
 
WEST DIVISION
1. Louisiana-Lafayette (12) - 72 pts
2. Texas-Arlington - 50 pts
3. Little Rock - 45 pts
4. Texas State - 44 pts
5. Arkansas State - 27 pts
6. Louisiana-Monroe - 14 pts