NATCHITOCHES – A trio of Northwestern State baseball players were named to the Preseason All-Southland Conference teams as announced by the league Friday morning.
 
Catcher Bo Willis is the Demons' lone first-team selection while second baseman Daunte Stuart and left-handed pitcher Cal Carver landed second-team acclaim. The team is selected by a combination of coaches' votes and who returned from last season's all-conference teams.
 
Willis, a junior from Magnolia, Texas, was named the preseason first-team catcher after earning postseason All-Southland Conference honors in his first season in a Demon uniform.
 
Willis led Northwestern State with 45 RBIs and ranked second on the team with 11 home runs in his first Division I season. He ranked sixth in the Southland Conference in home runs and seventh in the league in RBIs.
 
Stuart picked up his second straight preseason All-SLC honor after being named third-team All-Southland following the 2022 season.
 
A fourth-year junior from The Woodlands, Texas, Stuart batted. 276 with four home runs and 31 RBIs a season ago. He enters the 2023 season on the edge of the NSU career top 10 in doubles and walks.
 
Carver, a left-handed pitcher from San Antonio, Texas, was a second-team All-Southland Conference selection following the 2022 season and earned his second straight preseason All-SLC nod.
 
Carver opened all 14 of Northwestern State's series or tournament appearances in 2022 as its first-game starter, going 4-5 with a 4.71 ERA. He led the Demons in innings pitched (84) and strikeouts (76).
 
Carver enters his senior season as NSU's active career leader in appearances (32), starts (30), strikeouts (170), innings pitched (186 1-3), wins (11) and complete games (3).
 
The Southland Conference on Friday also announced its annual preseason poll, voted on by conference coaches and sports information directors.
 
Northwestern State was picked fifth in the league, receiving one first-place vote. McNeese earned the nod as preseason favorite, picking up seven first-place votes and 118 points. Southeastern was picked second but had the most first-place votes with 10.
 
The Demons open the season Feb. 17, facing South Alabama in the Jaguar Classic in Mobile, Alabama. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
 
2023 Southland Conference Preseason Poll

Pl	School	1st	Pts
1	McNeese	7	118
2	Southeastern	10	115
3	Lamar		88
4	New Orleans		87
5	Northwestern State	1	65
6	Nicholls		59
7	A&M-Corpus Christi		55
8	HCU		41
9	UIW		20

 
2023 Preseason All-Southland Conference Baseball Team
First Team

Pos.	Name	School	Cl.	Hometown
1B	Edgar Alvarez *	Nicholls	Jr.	Orlando, Fla.
2B	Brad Burckel *	McNeese	Sr.	Lindale, Texas
3B	Josh Leslie *	McNeese	Sr.	Kenosha, Wis.
SS	Parker Coddou *	Nicholls	Jr.	Thibodaux, La.
C	Bo Willis *	Northwestern State	Jr.	Magnolia, Texas
DH	Tre Jones *	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Jr.	Houston, Texas
OF	Payton Harden *	McNeese	Sr.	Atascocita, Texas
OF	Brendan Ryan *	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Sr.	Leawood, Kan.
OF	Xane Washington *	Nicholls	R-Sr.	Houma, La.
SP	Zach Garcia *	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	So.	New Braunfels, Texas
SP	Grant Rogers *	McNeese	Jr.	Groves, Texas
SP	Tyler Theriot *	Nicholls	Sr.	Brusly, La.
RP	Burrell Jones	McNeese	Sr.	Holt, Mich.
U	Alec Carr *	UIW	Sr.	Sugar Land, Texas

 
Second Team

Pos.	Name	School	Cl.	Hometown
1B	Josh Blankenship	Lamar	Sr.	Santa Fe, Texas
2B	Daunte Stuart *	Northwestern State	Jr.	The Woodlands, Texas
3B	Kasten Furr *	New Orleans	Jr.	Ruston, La.
SS	Tyler Bischke	New Orleans	Jr.	Pittsburgh, Pa.
C	Bryce Grizzaffi *	Southeastern	Sr.	Morgan City, La.
DH	Kade Hunter *	McNeese	Sr.	Comfort, Texas
OF	Josh Caraway *	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Jr.	Roanoke, Texas
OF	Braden Duhon *	McNeese	Jr.	Moss Bluff, La.
OF	Issac Williams *	New Orleans	Jr.	Alexandria, La.
SP	Cal Carver *	Northwestern State	Sr.	San Antonio, Texas
SP	Tyler LeBlanc *	New Orleans	Jr.	Lafayette, La.
SP	Will Kinzeler *	Southeastern	Jr.	Covington, La.
RP	Dalton Aspholm	Southeastern	Sr.	Baton Rouge, La.
U	Tre' Obregon III	McNeese	Sr.	Sallisaw, Okla.