Welcome to Episode 107 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. It's the sixth season we're doing this and we're busier than ever but as excited as ever to get to do this ridiculous exercise all over again. We give our usual caveats about how we plan to preview each region before previewing the West. In order:
- ASC (at 3:33)
- It may finally be East Texas Baptist's time to shine -- they look loaded
- UT-Dallas has a lot to replace on offense but we still trust this program to be good
- Mary Hardin-Baylor has impressive pitching depth but will need some bats to step up
- Adios, Belhaven -- keep an eye on Hardin-Simmons
- SCAC (at 17:05)
- Trinity (TX) has some huge bats to replace but should still rake while the pitching remains a question mark
- Texas Lutheran has a strong offensive core returning even if their best player from 2022 is gone
- Centenary (LA) has an excellent top of the rotation but will need to find some more thump on offense
- Shoutout Southwestern (TX) and St. Thomas (who came to D-III instead of leaving it like the MN school smh smh)
- SCIAC (at 28:37)
- Chapman's pitching should be elite again and have some ultra-exciting young hitters
- Pomona-Pitzer is trending up in a huge way and could have one of the best offenses in the country
- Cal Lutheran has a solid returning lineup but some questions on the mound
- We can always count on La Verne to compete
- NWC (at 42:00)
- Pacific (OR) has most of their main dudes back for what looks like another potential postseason run
- If Pacific Lutheran had posted their roster by the time we recorded this we'd feel a lot better about how good they were going to be
- Every other team in this conference could realistically make some noise; look for Lewis & Clark to keep trending up and Whitman to bounce back
We conclude (at 49:20) with our player and pitcher of the year picks, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye.
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