LMU’s Fuqua Leads SAC Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team
After leading his team through three games on Sunday to claim the 2013 Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship title, Lincoln Memorial infielder Curt Fuqua was named the championship's MVP and headlines the All-Tournament Team which was announced on Monday.
FOREST CITY, N.C. – After leading his team through three games on Sunday to claim the 2013 Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship title, Lincoln Memorial infielder Curt Fuqua was named the championship's MVP and headlines the All-Tournament Team which was announced on Monday.
Fuqua hit .381 in five games at the championship, recording eight hits in 21 at bats. He hit two doubles on Saturday in an 8-7 win over Tusculum, and homered in LMU's first game on Sunday against Carson-Newman. The senior later went 2-for-4 at the plate, drew a walk and scored a run in Sunday's championship game.
Six more players from the champion Railsplitters also earned All-Tournament Team selections. Pitchers Wes Todd and Ian Creager – who earned the wins in both of LMU's victories on Sunday – were named to the team, as were pitcher Brandon Cowan and pitcher/outfielder Josh Coker. In addition to throwing two innings in Sunday's title game, Coker also hit two home runs and had six RBI.
Rounding out LMU's All-Tournament selections were infielder Andre Rodriguez and catcher Nick Pressley. Rodriguez had eight hits in the tournament – including three in the championship game – while Pressley had a total of seven hits and homered in the title game.
Runner-up Carson-Newman placed four on the All-Tournament Team in infielder Bo Ausmus, outfielder Cody Fox and pitchers Chris Armstrong and Dustin Dunagan.
Ausmus hit .350 in the tournament with four extra-base hits, Fox had seven RBI, Armstrong threw a tournament-high 9.2 innings without allowing an earned run, and Dunagan pitched 8.1 innings with eight strikeouts in a Sunday victory that sent Carson-Newman to the championship game.
Newberry, which finished one win shy of reaching the title game, was represented on the team by pitcher Cole Cromer and first baseman Eric Barbieri. Cromer got the win in the Wolves' 7-3 victory over Carson-Newman on Saturday, while Barbieri hit .438 with four doubles and a home run in four tournament games.
Completing the All-Tournament team were Catawba outfielder Blake Houston and pitcher John Tuttle. Houston went 6-for-12 with four runs scored in three games, while Tuttle pitched 8.1 innings and allowed just two earned runs in Friday night's 9-4 Indians win over Wingate.
2013 Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team
OF - Blake Houston, Catawba
P - John Tuttle, Catawba
P - Cole Cromer, Newberry
1B – Eric Barbieri, Newberry
P - Chris Armstrong, Carson-Newman
P - Dustin Dunagan, Carson-Newman
INF - Bo Ausmus, Carson-Newman
OF - Cody Fox, Carson-Newman
INF - Curt Fuqua, LMU (MVP)
INF - Andre Rodriguez, LMU
P - Brandon Cowan, LMU
OF/P - Josh Coker, LMU
P - Wes Todd, LMU
C - Nick Pressley, LMU
P - Ian Creager, LMU