STOCKTON, Calif. - The West Coast Conference officially announced the 2021 WCC Baseball Preseason Poll as voted on by the conference's 10 coaches as well the All-WCC Preseason Baseball Team on Tuesday morning.
Pacific, who finished 8-9 overall last season, was picked to finish tenth in the regular standings in the upcoming 2021 season. Individually, senior
Charles Middleton earned a spot on the All-WCC Preseason team after finishing as one of the most feared hitters in the conference last year.
"
Charles Middleton is the quintessential WCC student-athlete," said head coach
Chris Rodriguez. "He is one of the purest hitters that I have had the privilege of being around... He is coming off a great start as a Tiger after the 2020 COVID-shortened season and is looking to pick up right where he left off in 2021."
Despite only suiting up for 17 total games in 2020, Middleton is hungry to build on his 2020 campaign, the Lincoln, Calif. native was recently selected for Perfect Game's Preseason All-WCC team as the outfielder shined in 17 games last year, delivering two walk-off wins for the Tigers while also notching team-highs in batting average (.403), OPS (1.151), at-bats (67), runs (15), hits (27), doubles (5, home runs (4), RBI (20), total bases (44), slugging percentage (.657), base on balls (12) and on-base percentage (.494). For these efforts, Middleton was also named one of D1 Baseball's top 50 hitters in the junior class in 2019.
In the dugout, 2021 will mark the first full season as head coach for Rodriguez, who was awarded the interim job after
Ryan Garko resigned in Jan. 2020. In the offseason,
Daniel Jaffe joins the Tigers after time at Georgia Tech following the departure of former Tiger and assistant coach Joey Centanni.
Overall, Pepperdine received six first-place votes to earn top billing in 2021 WCC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll.Ending last season with a 12-3 record, the Waves tallied 78 points in the annual poll and were one of four teams to receive a first-place vote. Gonzaga found itself at the top of two ballots and finished second overall with 67 points while San Diego (63 points) and BYU (50) each received one first-place vote and were third and fourth, respectively. LMU and San Francisco finished tied for fifth with 40 points apiece while Portland (38), Santa Clara (30), Saint Mary's (29) and
Pacific (15) rounded out the poll.
For the players, the All-WCC Preseason Team, which includes 10 position players and five pitchers, features four returning players from the 2020 preseason squad.
The full team poll and All-WCC Preseason Team can be viewed below:
| 2021 WCC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll |
| Team (First Place Votes) |
Points |
| Pepperdine (6) |
78 |
| Gonzaga (2) |
67 |
| San Diego (1) |
63 |
| BYU (1) |
50 |
| Loyola Marymount |
40 |
| San Francisco |
40 |
| Portland |
38 |
| Santa Clara |
30 |
| Saint Mary's (CA) |
29 |
| Pacific |
15 |
| 2021 All-WCC Preseason Baseball Team – Position Players |
| Name |
Institution |
Yr. |
Pos. |
| Reese Alexiades |
Pepperdine |
Sr. |
OF |
| Billy Cook |
Pepperdine |
Jr. |
2B/OF |
| Jake Holcroft |
Portland |
Fr. |
OF |
| Shane McGuire |
San Diego |
Jr. |
C |
| Charles Middleton |
Pacific |
Jr. |
LF |
| Aharon Modlin |
Pepperdine |
Sr. |
INF |
| Caleb Ricketts |
San Diego |
So. |
1B/C |
| Chad Stevens |
Portland |
Jr. |
INF |
| Trace Tammaro |
Portland |
So. |
INF |
| Ernie Yake |
Gonzaga |
Jr. |
SS |
| 2021 All-WCC Preseason Baseball Team – Pitchers |
| Name |
Institution |
Yr. |
Pos. |
| Josh Agnew |
LMU |
Sr. |
RHP |
| Cooper Chandler |
Pepperdine |
Jr. |
RHP |
| Alek Jacob |
Gonzaga |
Jr. |
RHP |
| Christian Peters |
Portland |
Sr. |
RHP |
| Carter Rustad |
San Diego |
Fr. |
RHP |
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