The South Atlantic Conference and AstroTurf Present Senior Spotlights Featuring Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball, Softball, Women's Golf & Tennis

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – In light of the recent events of the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled the remainder of the 2020 South Atlantic Conference spring sports seasons, the SAC along with its corporate partner AstroTurf, will be presenting the SAC AstroTurf Senior Spotlights. These highlights will showcase the spring sports teams at each of our 12 institutions and will give fans a brief overview of the team's shortened season, while highlighting the 2020 senior student-athletes on each team.

We continue our AstroTurf Senior Spotlights with the Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears and the baseball, softball, women's golf and men's and women's tennis teams. 

BASEBALL

The Bears baseball team finished the year going 15-11 overall and 4-5 in conference play under first-year head coach Chris Ramirez. Led by 10 seniors, the Bears closed out the season winning seven of their last nine games, including an upset victory over No. 3 Catawba on March 6. 

Over half of the Bears' losses in 2020 came against nationally ranked opponents.

Senior E.J. Ranel was a preseason all-conference pick in the outfield that had his season cut short due to injury. In the eight games he played he batted. .280 in 25 at bats.

Second baseman Xander Ferlenda started all 26 games this season, batting .320 with a team-high 25 runs scored. He also had a pair of home runs and drove in 16 runs. 

Infielder Corbin Watson played in 14 games, starting 12 of them collecting nine hits with six runs scored a pair of RBIs.

Pitcher Ray Stocum saw action in four games, while Nolan Flachofsky took the mound three times for the Bears.

Brett Fulk took the mound 13 times with one start for the Bears, finishing the season with 3.07 ERA, a 1-1 record and 14 strikeouts in 14 and two-thirds innings.

Trevor Smisek made four appearances in 2020, while preseason all-conference pick Alex Shirazi led the team with 33 and two-thirds innings of work on the mound, going 3-1 with a 4.28 ERA and 31 punchouts.

Nate Collins and Clay Ervin rounded out the senior class for Lenoir-Rhyne with each making one appearance during the 2020 season.

2020 Bears Baseball Seniors

SOFTBALL
The Lenoir-Rhyne Softball Team went 20-4 overall and 2-0 in SAC play in 2020, finishing the season ranked No. 21 in the nation. The Bears boasted a pair of the biggest victories in program history, a 1-0 win at No. 16 North Georgia and a 11-10 extra inning thriller over No. 1 Young Harris.

In the last game of the regular season, freshman Morgan Beeler tossed a no-hitter against Queens to complete a sweep of their only SAC contests of the year. Led by a trio of seniors, Lenoir-Rhyne started 10-0, just the third time in program history the Bears started a season with 10 straight victories. 

Infielder Ashten Hinkle played in 19 games in 2020 batting .355 with nine runs scored and two stolen bases. The highlight of Hinkle's year was hitting her first career home run in the Bears' win over Queens.

Natalie Parham another infielder saw action in 13 games with one start, while fellow infielder Mackensi Swain started all 24 games batting .288 with three home runs and 14 RBIs. She also drew a team-high 18 walks and had a .463 on-base percentage.

2020 Bears Softball Seniors

WOMEN'S GOLF
The Bears ranked as high as No. 20 in the national poll and had won a pair of tournaments, including the SAC Preview, in the fall. After finishing second in the SAC Tournament in 2019 and winning it all in 2018, the Bears were looking to make some more noise in 2020.

Lenoir-Rhyne also had two individuals in the hunt for a spot in the NCAA Tournament before their season was cut short.

The Bears were led by seniors Ainee O'Connor and Jordan Young. O'Connor tied for first at Battle at Hilton Head, while tying for second with a 145 at State Farm Intercollegiate. Overall, she had four top 10 finishes on the year.

Young played in six of eight tournaments for the Bears.

2020 Bears Women's Golf Seniors

WOMEN'S TENNIS
The Bears women's tennis team went 8-2 this season and a perfect 3-0 in SAC play under first-year head coach Jesse Tarr. They finished the season on a four-match winning streak. Gemma Southwick earned back-to-back AstroTurf Player of the Week awards. 

The Bears team featured two seniors Sophia Aguilar Di Camillo who did not play in 2019-20 and Ally Garofoli who went 5-4 in singles play, including going 3-0 at No. 4 singles. She was also 3-4 at No. 3 doubles.

2020 Bears Women's Tennis Seniors

MEN'S TENNIS
The Bears men's tennis team closed out he 2020 season with an 8-3 record, going 2-1 in SAC play under first-year head coach Jesse Tarr. Led by four seniors, Lenoir-Rhyne closed out the regular season on a four-match winning streak.

Alex Ayguavives went 2-0 in doubles play, with both wins coming at No. 2 doubles, while William Hewett won his only singles contest of the year and also went 2-0 in doubles action.

Paul Lenz, the 2019 SAC Elite 20 winner, went 8-3 in doubles action and 3-1 in singles, while Tales Miranda went 5-2 in singles action, mostly at No. 5 singles and he was 1-0 in doubles play.

2020 Bears Men's Tennis Seniors

AstroTurf is an official corporate partner of the South Atlantic Conference and title sponsor of the Conference's Player of the Week awards program.

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