In a pre-season poll, the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) baseball coaches picked Carthage College to win the 2016 title.  Carthage, the 2015 CCIW Baseball Tournament champion, was picked to win this year's regular-season title with four first-place votes and 45 points. 

Illinois Wesleyan University (2 first-place votes, 37 points) was picked in a second-place tie with defending-CCIW- champion North Central College (1 first-place vote, 37 points), followed by Wheaton College (Ill., 1 first-place vote, 36 points) fourth, Augustana College (Ill., 28 points) fifth, North Park University (21 points) sixth, Millikin University (13 points) seventh and Elmhurst College (7 points) eighth.

The Red Men, ranked 29th in the March 8 "D3baseball.com" poll, are scheduled to open their season on March 12 at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Inviational in Terre Haute, Ind.  Carthage takes on Rose-Hulman and Benedictine University (Ill.) that day at Art Nehf Field.