BTN.com staff, February 12, 2014

Indiana baseball was the unanimous choice by the conference coaches as the preseason favorite to claim the Big Ten Championship, it was announced on Wednesday. The conference?s coaches voted on the top six teams and also selected three players from their own squads to a Players to Watch list. The Hoosiers were followed in the preseason poll by No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan State, with Illinois and Michigan tied for fifth.

The Hoosiers return seven of their nine All-Big Ten honorees from last year?s College World Series squad, including third baseman Dustin DeMuth, catcher Kyle Schwarber and first baseman Sam Travis, who were named Big Ten Players to Watch. The trio each earned Preseason All-America accolades from various outlets, with Schwarber being a unanimous pick from Baseball America, College Baseball Newspaper and the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

2014 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL (top six teams)

1. INDIANA
2. Nebraska
3. Ohio State
4. Michigan State
T-5. Illinois
T-5. Michigan

CAPS denote a unanimous selection

2014 BIG TEN BASEBALL PLAYERS TO WATCH

Kevin Duchene, So., SP, Illinois
David Kerian, Jr., 1B, Illinois
Ronnie Muck, Sr., RP, Illinois
Dustin DeMuth, Sr., 3B, Indiana
Kyle Schwarber, Jr., C, Indiana
Sam Travis, Jr., 1B, Indiana
Sasha Kuebel, Jr., SP, Iowa
Eric Toole, Jr., CF, Iowa
Jake Yacinich, Jr., SS, Iowa
Jacob Cronenworth, So., IF/RP, Michigan
Evan Hill, So., SP, Michigan
Travis Maezes, So., SS, Michigan
Justin Alleman, So., SP, Michigan State
Cam Gibson, So., OF, Michigan State
Jimmy Pickens, Jr., OF, Michigan State
Alec Crawford, Sr., SP, Minnesota
Matt Halloran, Sr., C, Minnesota
Ben Meyer, Jr., SP, Minnesota
Aaron Bummer, Jr., SP, Nebraska
Pat Kelly, Jr., 2B, Nebraska
Michael Pritchard, Sr., OF/DH, Nebraska
Brandon Magallones, Jr., SP, Northwestern
Matt Portland, So., SP, Northwestern
Kyle Ruchim, Sr., IF, Northwestern
Trace Dempsey, Jr., RP, Ohio State
Josh Dezse, Jr., P/DH, Ohio State
Patrick Porter, Jr., OF, Ohio State
James Coates, So., OF, Penn State
Alex Farkes, Sr., C, Penn State
Greg Guers, So., OF, Penn State
Sean McHugh, Sr., 3B/C, Purdue
Jordan Minch, So., SP, Purdue
Kyle Wood, So., SP/1B, Purdue