Logjam at top in MIAC baseball preseason poll

Bethel was picked to repeat as the MIAC regular-season baseball champion in a coaches' preseason poll by the slimmest of margins over St. Thomas and St. John's, last year's playoff champion.

The Royals received four first-place votes and 92 points to finish atop the poll, while the Tommies also received four first-place votes and 90 points. St. John's was just a point behind the Tommies with three first-place votes and 89 points.

St. Mary's and Concordia opened their seasons Sunday on spring break trips in Winter Haven, Fla. This weekend Augsburg will head to Missouri for its first action, and Bethel will attempt to play its earliest outdoor game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Northwestern (St. Paul).

The rest of the conference will play their first games in March with trips to Florida, Arizona, Illinois and surrounding states.

• MIAC softball coaches expect it to be crowded at the top in the standings of their sport, too. Four different teams received at least two first-place votes.

St. Thomas got four first-place votes and 111 points to finish first in the preseason poll, but defending MIAC playoff champion Gustavus was just one point behind with three-first place votes.

Defending regular-season champion Bethel is also expected to contend, getting three first-place votes and 100 points, and Hamline had two first-place votes and 91 points.

• Michigan State's Sarah Burnham, a sophomore who played for Wayzata High School, was named the Big Ten's co-women's golfer of the week. She shot a 5-under 211 to tie for medalist honors at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Championship. Her total was the fourth lowest 54-hole score in school history.