SPOKANE, Wash. - Just a few weeks away from the start of the 2010 campaign, the Puget Sound Loggers have been picked middle of the road in the Northwest Conference this season.  The Logger baseball squad tied with Pacific for fifth while the Logger softball team was picked sixth.

The Puget Sound baseball team picked up 42 points to tie with the Boxers for fifth.  The 2010 Loggers will be led by All-American catcher Mark Rockey (Mountlake Terrace, Wash./New Mexico) as well as Second-Team All-NWC hurler Cameron Duvall (Lakewood, Wash./Lakes). 

Pacific Lutheran was picked to win the conference title with six first-place votes and 84 points overall.  Linfield was picked second with two first-place votes and 72 points while George Fox was picked third with 67 points and the final first-place vote.  Willamette was picked fourth, just ahead of Pacific and Puget Sound.  Whitworth (34), Lewis & Clark (17) and Whitman (14) rounded out the preseason coaches poll.

The Loggers softball team earned 23 points to take sixth place in the preseason poll.  The Loggers will be led by a pair of sophomore All-NWC performers as pitcher/infielder Aryn Grause (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley) and catcher Megan Janes (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) return for the maroon and white in 2010.

Linfield is the heavy favorite to win a seventh-straight title with seven first-place votes and 70 points overall.  Willamette was picked second with the final first-place vote and 55 points, followed by Pacific (47), Pacific Lutheran (43), Whitworth (33), Puget Sound (23), George Fox (15) and Lewis & Clark (9). 

The Logger baseball team will open the season on Feb. 13 with a home doubleheader against Central Washington while the Puget Sound softball team will have opening day on Feb. 20 at Concordia (Ore.).