The UAFS baseball team has been picked to finish sixth in the Heartland Conference this spring in the recently released preseason poll conducted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
           
UAFS, which will begin its sixth season of NCAA Division II competition and fourth as an active member, received 101 points in the overall voting. The Diamond Lions finished 25-26 overall and 14-16 in conference play this past spring. They qualified for the conference tournament as the No. 4 seed but lost to No. 1 seed St. Edward's and No. 3 seed Newman in the conference tournament.
           
The Diamond Lions will feature a new look this spring. Todd Holland begins his first season as head coach, succeeding former head coach Dale Harpenau who resigned after this past season after 16 seasons as coach of his alma mater to pursue other career opportunities.
           
As a newcomer in the league, Holland said it's tough to gauge where teams will finish, especially this early.
           
"It's hard to tell. I've never played a team in the conference, so I don't know. Basically, polls are something for people to write about and get baseball hyped up," said Holland, who previously was the head baseball coach at NCAA Division II Cameron University in Lawton, Okla.
           
"I know I put myself lower than I should have been because of the simple fact that you don't know what to expect. That's the whole thing. If you had to tell every kid that you had on your team and their expectations, everyone would put themselves first going into the year."

St. Edward's is the preseason favorite to win the conference, but the Hilltoppers are far from a unanimous choice, receiving only seven of the 20 first-place votes cast. Lubbock Christian received 12 first-place votes but was picked second behind St. Edward's in the overall points tally by a 3-point margin (184-181).

St. Edward's is the defending regular-season and conference tournament champion.

Lubbock Christian, which is a provisional member of NCAA Division II, finished atop the conference standings last season, but because of its provisional status, the Chaps were not eligible to win the conference title or compete in postseason play. They are eligible to win the regular-season title this season but are still ineligible for postseason play.

St. Mary's, which had its run of four consecutive conference titles snapped this past season, was voted third, receiving the remaining first-place vote and 170 overall points.

Oklahoma Christian, which is a provisional NCAA Division II member, was voted fourth, receiving 133 points. Newman was voted fifth (111), the University of Texas of the Permian Basin seventh (84), Texas A&M International eighth (59), Rogers State (56) ninth and Oklahoma Panhandle State 10th (21).

The Diamond Lions opened preseason practice at 9:30 p.m. on Monday with an indoor workout, and Holland said he's excited about the start of the new season.

UAFS will begin the regular season with six consecutive home games. The Diamond Lions will host the Henderson State Reddies in a three-game series on Feb. 1-2 at Crowder Field and will host the University of Central Oklahoma in a three-game series on Feb. 6-7 at Crowder Field.

The Diamond Lions will open conference play against Lubbock Christian on Feb. 27-28 with a three-game series at Crowder Field.

"I'm excited, and it should be good," Holland said. "You can tell baseball is right around the corner because it starts raining and snowing."