| Members: Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, McNeese State, New Orleans, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. |
| Team to Beat: Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions dominated the Southland a year ago, going 25-5 against the league in the regular season, but one bad week in the conference tournament left them on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble. Undeterred, the Lions expect to be right back at the top of the Southland again in 2016 despite losing their Friday and Saturday starters. They return seven regulars from what was the Southland’s highest-scoring offense a year ago, and moreover they add star first baseman Jameson Fisher back into the mix after shoulder surgery forced him to redshirt last season. The Lions should still be solid on the mound as well, with four-pitch senior Kyle Cedotal assuming the Friday role and sophomore Mac Sceroler, last year’s closer as a freshman, moving into the rotation in the Saturday slot. |
| Player of the Year: Jameson Fisher, 1b, Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions made do without Fisher last year, but the redshirt-junior is ready to move back into the heart of their lineup. The Southland batting champ as a sophomore in 2014, Fisher already has the look of a complete hitter, even more so if his power potential shows through in game action. |
| Pitcher of the Year: Justin Sinibaldi, rhp, Nicholls State. The Southland’s reigning pitcher of the year after a breakout 2015, Sinibaldi’s an athletic senior righthander who pounds the zone with a low 90s fastball and solid secondary stuff. His 1.40 ERA led the conference in 2015, and he didn’t allow a home run all season. |
| Freshman of the Year: Shane Selman, of, McNeese State. An explosive athlete with righthanded power potential, Selman has a chance to step into the middle of the Cowboys’ order immediately. He won back-to-back state championships at Barbe High (Lake Charles, La.), including in 2014 when Barbe was named High School Team of the Year. |
| Notable Storylines: McNeese State weathered three straight losing seasons from 2011-13, but third-year coach Justin Hill has the Cowboys moving up. Both their 32 wins overall and 18 in conference play last year were their highest totals since 2006, and they led the Southland in home runs (33). The veteran lineup starts seven juniors or seniors, led by power-hitting senior outfielder Connor Crane (8 HR). They also boast one of the league’s smartest hitters in reigning Southland freshman of the year Joe Provenzano (.310/.419/.374) at second base. … An era is coming to an end at Lamar, where longtime head coach Jim Gilligan will retire at the end of the season. Former Louisiana State assistant Will Davis was named as his successor in January, and joined the Cardinals as an assistant coach for this spring. Gilligan has been involved in the Lamar program for over four decades as either a player or coach. Outside of a four-year detour coaching in pro ball from 1987-91, he’s been Lamar’s head coach since 1973 and won more than 1,300 games and 10 conference titles. The Cardinals finished 12th in the league last year, but expect to be improved in Gilligan’s final season behind one of the league’s more potent offenses … Under the radar, Nicholls State finished fourth in the nation in ERA last year at 2.47, only behind pitching powerhouses UCLA, Texas Christian and UC Santa Barbara. Even after losing two starters and their closer, the Colonels still should be stout on the mound with Sinibaldi and intriguing junior righthander Cole Stapler moving into the Saturday role. On the other hand, they’ll need more out of an offense that finished 278th in the country in scoring. |
| Tournament: Eight teams, double elimination, May 25-28 at Sugar Land, Texas. |
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