New Haven, Conn. (2/1/17)  Dominican College and Felician University on Wednesday were picked first in their respective divisions in the 2017 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Preseason Coaches Poll, as announced by Commissioner Dan Mara.

The Chargers earned 69 points and 10 first-place votes to top the North Division, while the Golden Falcons received 71 points and 11 first-place nods to head up the South. The voting for the poll was conducted by the league's 12 head coaches in the sport.

Rounding out the top three in the North Division were Post University (2nd, 59 pts, 2 1st-place votes) and Concordia College (3rd, 42 pts). The South's top three also included Wilmington University (2nd, 56 pts) and Philadelphia University (3rd, 44 pts, 1 1st-place vote).

CACC Baseball moves to a new divisional format this season, as the number of teams competing in the sport increases from 11 to 12 with the addition of Goldey-Beacom College sponsoring the sport at the varsity level. There will be six teams in the North and six in the South. That is not the only change to CACC Baseball in 2017, as the conference schedule increases from 20 to 32 games. Each program will two doubleheaders against the other five teams in their division (1 home/1 away) and one doubleheader against non-division opponents. In-division doubleheaders will be held during weekday dates and cross-division doubleheaders will be held on Saturdays.

The 2017 CACC Baseball Championship will see eight teams qualify for the tournament. The top-four teams from each division following the regular season will advance to the first round, which will be single elimination and held on Saturday, May 6, at the sites of the highest seeds. The match-ups will include North #1 vs. South #4; North #2 vs. South #3; South #1 vs. North #4; and South #2 vs. North #3. The four first-round winners will advance to the double-elimination portion of the championship, which will be held from May 11-13, at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Conn. (hosted by Post University). The winner of the championship will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament.

Dominican advanced to last year's double-elimination portion of the tournament and will return three players who earned All-CACC status in 2016, including third baseman Max Franzone, outfielder Arbely Soto and relief pitcher Kraigen Rasalla.

Felician enters 2017 as the defending CACC Champion, as the Golden Falcons had to win twice on the final day of the 2016 tournament to hoist championship hardware. Felician returns eight of its nine all-conference honorees from a season ago, including third baseman J.R. Meneses, catcher Matt Kleinstein, outfielder Matt Diesel, outfielder Andrew LaMura, relief pitcher Danny Naif, designated hitter Brennan Price, utility-pitcher Jason Polgano and shorstop Bruce Strickland. The first seven honorees on that list earned First-Team All-CACC status last year.

The remaining teams in the North Division rankings include Nyack College (4th, 35 pts), Bloomfield College (5th, 29 pts) and Caldwell University (6th, 18 pts). The remainder of the South featured Chestnut Hill College (4th, 43 pts), Goldey-Beacom (5th, 20 pts) and University of the Sciences (6th, 18 pts).

ABOUT THE CACC
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Nyack College, Philadelphia University, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.

2017 CACC BASEBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL
North Division
1. Dominican College 69 (10)
2. Post University 59 (2)
3. Concordia College 42
4. Nyack College 35
5. Bloomfield College 29
6. Caldwell University 18 

South Division
1. Felician University 71 (11)
2. Wilmington University 56
3. Philadelphia University 44 (1)
4. Chestnut Hill College 43
5. Goldey-Beacom College 20
6. University of the Sciences 18