\n Story Links
\n
<\/p>\n
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. \u2013The Augustana baseball team opens the 2026 season ranked No. 5 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Central Region Preseason Rankings while Ashton Michek<\/a> was named to the\u00a0Preseason All-Region Team,\u00a0announced\u00a0by the organization\u00a0Wednesday.<\/p>\n Augustana enters the 2026 season on the heels of a 2025 season that saw them reach the NSIC Championship Game, finishing the season with a 39-16 record. The Vikings will look to bounce back after missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017 with a crop of younger talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Augustana opens its 50-game slate with a four-game neutral site set against Bemidji State Feb. 13-15, with three games counting as conference action.<\/p>\n A senior from Bangor, Wis., Michek\u00a0was named a\u00a0D2CCA\/Daktronics All-Region Second Team member last season after going\u00a05-2 in NSIC action with a 3.31 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 2025. He has ranked in the top-5 in NSIC ERA the past two seasons and was a consensus All-Region selection in 2024.<\/p>\n Preseason Central Region Rankings Preseason All-Central Region Team The Vikings hope to open their home schedule February 20-22, hosting Minnesota Duluth for four game before traveling to Mesa, Colorado for a four-game set against Colorado Mesa.. The 2025 NSIC Baseball Tournament takes place May 6-9, hosted by Augustana and the University of Sioux Falls at Ronken Field and the Birdcage in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
\nRank\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0School (First Place Votes)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Pts
\n1\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Central Missouri (10)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0100
\n2\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Minnesota State\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a078
\n3\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Pittsburg State\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a077
\n4\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Arkansas Tech\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a072
\n5\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Augustana\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a055
\n6\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Harding\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a048
\n7\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Central Oklahoma\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a045
\n8\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Southern Arkansas\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a031
\n9\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Missouri Southern\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a023
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Henderson State\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a011<\/p>\n
\nC\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Collin Helms, Harding
\n1B\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Tyler Sardelli, Arkansas Tech
\n2B\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Jackson Merovsh, Washburn
\nSS\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cole Dawson, Arkansas Tech
\n3B\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Logan Lacey, Harding+
\nOF\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Issac Pegors, UMary
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Levi Lampert, Southwest Minnesota State
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Noah Steele, Emporia State
\nDH\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Dagen Brewer, Pitt State
\nUTL\u00a0\u00a0 Louis Magers, Minnesota State
\nSP\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Ashton Michek<\/a>, Augustana\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sam George, Minnesota State
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Will Kates, Northwestern Oklahoma
\nRP\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Braden Cannon, Wayne State
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Brandon Chavez, Fort Hays State<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Story Links
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. \u2013The Augustana baseball team opens the 2026 season ranked No. 5 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5],"class_list":{"0":"post-542698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115974160025169322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}