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The LMU baseball team, led by seventh-year head coach Jason Gill, is the favorite to win the 2015 WCC Championship, it was announced by the conference office following a poll of the 10 conference head coaches. The Lions earned six of 10 possible first-place votes and 77 overall points in the poll. LMU went 32-24 last year, finishing in a tie for second place in the WCC, and eventually falling in the WCC Championship game to Pepperdine. The Lions last won the WCC Championship in 2000.

In addition to finishing first in the preseason poll, the Lions also had senior Colin Welmon and sophomores David Fletcher and Austin Miller tabbed as preseason All-WCC selections.

Welmon went 10-2 with a 2.37 ERA over 14 starts last year, posting four complete games, including three straight to finish the year, and all four in his last five starts. The native of Tustin, Calif., who struck out 58 and walked 19 over 106.1 innings, tossed 7.0+ innings in all but two starts.

Miller earned first team Freshman All-American accolades from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association to go along with a WCC Freshman of the Year selection. He batted a team-high .374 with 46 runs scored, 10 doubles, three triples and 18 RBI while swiping 25 bases in 29 attempts and reaching at a .474 clip. The native of Greeley, Colo. also drew 21 hit-by-pitches, matching the LMU record for a single season, while leading the team in average, slugging percentage (.451), on-base percentage, runs scored, hits (77), triples, total bases (93) and stolen bases.

Fletcher earned Freshman All-American accolades from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association to accompany an American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings second team All-West Region selection and the WCC Defensive Player of the Year. The native of Cypress, Calif. hit .329 with 37 runs scored, six doubles, two triples and 28 RBI while starting all 56 games for the Lions at shortstop. He also hit safely in 30 of LMU's last 32 games, including a team-high 15-game hit streak to finish the year.

Pepperdine University, the 2014 WCC Champions, earned 72 points and picked up three first place votes. The Waves rolled to the first Super Regional berth in WCC history last season, falling tantalizingly short of qualifying for the program's third trip to the College World Series.

The University of San Diego collected 63 points to go along with the remaining first place vote and was picked to finish third. Gonzaga University, a 2014 WCC Tournament participant, was tabbed fourth with 56 votes. The University of the Pacific rounded out the top-five teams in the survey with 45 votes.

Brigham Young University was tabbed sixth with 40 points. Santa Clara University (38), University of San Francisco (31), Saint Mary's College (18) and University of Portland (10) rounded out the poll.

All told, eight of the 10 WCC schools are represented on the preseason All-West Coast Conference team, led by Loyola Marymount which placed two position players and a pitcher on the squad. BYU, Gonzaga, Pacific, San Diego and Santa Clara each placed two on the preseason list.

This year's preseason team features one position player and two pitchers who were named to the 2014 advance list. No fewer than nine of the 10 position players and four of five pitchers captured All-WCC honors last season.

LMU will open the 2015 season on Friday when it opens a three-game series against San Jose State at 6 pm from Page Stadium.

2015 PRESEASON ALL-WEST COAST CONFERENCE TEAM