Texas Lutheran picked second in 2021 SCAC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Texas Lutheran is the second pick in the 2021 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Coaches' Poll.

The Bulldogs received 56 total points and one first place vote. Trinity, the preseason favorite, picked up 62 total points and seven first-place votes.

TLU is coming off back-to-back NCAA Division III Tournament appearances (2018 and 2019). The 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. TLU was 9-4 overall when the season came to a halt in March 2020.

The Bulldogs, the 2018 NCAA Division III national runner-up, have a No. 12 national preseason ranking from Collegiate Baseball.

The 2021 season will be the first as TLU's head coach for Rick Heines, who took over this past summer for the retiring Greg Burnett. Heines, 35, is the ninth head baseball coach in TLU Baseball history. Burnett announced his coaching retirement from TLU on July 27, 2020, after 13 years as head baseball coach and 22 total years with TLU Baseball. Burnett moved into the campus recreation director role at TLU.

Heines was promoted to head coach from his prior roles as associate head coach, pitching coach, and recruiting coordinator. He was hired by Burnett as an assistant coach for baseball in July of 2012. Previously, he was promoted to associate head coach in March of 2018. He has worked as the TLU Baseball pitching coach and recruiting coordinator since joining the university in the summer of 2012.

The Bulldogs open the 2021 season on Feb. 19-20 with a three-game home series against Hardin-Simmons University.

TLU's 2021 schedule has non-conference contests against HSU, Concordia Texas, Mary Hardin-Baylor, East Texas Baptist, and Our Lady of the Lake. The Bulldogs also play a non-conference series against Southwestern.

The Bulldogs' conference schedule in the SCAC begins on March 19 in Seguin with the start of a three-game series against Trinity. The Bulldogs host the Tigers and the Austin College Kangaroos at TLU's Katt-Isbel Field in consecutive weeks. The Bulldogs also host Southwestern in a conference three-game series, set for April 17-18.

TLU's road conference series will take place in Houston (versus St. Thomas on April 1-2), in Irving, Texas (versus University of Dallas on April 10-11), in Kerrville, Texas (versus Schreiner on April 23-24), and in Shreveport, La. (versus Centenary on April 30-May 1).

The conference tournament is scheduled for May 7-9 at The Depot in Cleburne, Texas. The regional tournament round of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship is slated to begin on May 14.

Among the key returners for TLU in 2021 will be senior outfielder Tyler Cauley (Baytown/Barbers Hill), a 2018 All-American, a 2019-20 Academic All-American, two-time All-Region, and three-time All-SCAC selection.

A four-year starter for the Bulldogs, Cauley is in the top-five all-time at TLU for home runs (28), RBI (151) and slugging percentage (.654). He is a career .346 hitter with 39 doubles, 13 triples, 168 hits, and 25 stolen bases.

As the starting right-fielder, Cauley helped lead TLU to the 2018 NCAA Division III Baseball World Series in Appleton, Wis.
 
With Cauley on the team, the Bulldogs have won an NCAA DIII Regional Championship, a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and an SCAC Regular-Season Championship.

Cauley and the Bulldogs have a combined record of 103-49 (.678) overall and 39-15 (.722) mark in the SCAC over the past three-plus seasons.