The South Atlantic Conference Announces Baseball Annual Awards

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSac.com) – Mars Hill shortstop Evan Rogers was voted the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Player of the Year, while Tusculum's Placido Torres was named the Pitcher of the Year.  In addition, Ethan Elliot of Lincoln Memorial was voted the League's Freshman of the Year and Catawba mentor Jim Gantt was tabbed the Coach of the Year, the League announced today.

Rogers, a senior from Kernersville, N.C. became Mars Hill's first-ever South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year after finishing the regular season ranked No. 4 in the nation with 19 home runs and 0.40 homers per game to rank No. 11 in Division II.  Rogers' 66 runs scored this season were good for No. 3 in the nation, while his 55 RBI currently ranks No. 20 in the country.  Rogers added 19 doubles on the year to rank No. 14 in the nation to post the nation's seventh-best slugging percentage at .855.  He batted .390 during the regular season to go along with 67 hits and an on-base percentage of .505.

Torres, a senior from North Brunswich, N.J., finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in Division II with 141 total strikeouts.  He averaged 12.95 strikeouts per nine innings to rank No. 7 in Division II and posted 6.71 strikeout to walk ratio to rank No. 16 in the country.  He is the only pitcher in the League to post an ERA of less than one this season as his 0.73 ERA is good for No. 3 in the nation.  Torres was tabbed the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Southeast Region Pitcher of the Week four times this season.   He picked up NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week honors on April 8 as he struck out 15 Wingate hitters in a one-hit shutout win.  Torres is currently No. 1 all-time in strike outs at Tusculum with 251 in his career, while his 141 strikeouts this season is currently No. 3 on the South Atlantic Conference single season list.

Elliott, a pitcher from Knoxville, Tenn., turned in 10 wins on the mound this season for the Railsplitters to rank No. 2 in Division II.  He posted 62 strikeouts during the 2016 season and finished second in the Conference with a pair of shutout wins this season.  Elliott struck out 7.51 batters per game 74.1 innings of work.  The honor marks the first South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year honor in Lincoln Memorial history.

Gantt earns his eighth Coach of the Year honor after guiding the Catawba Indians to their 11^th South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship.  His Catawba Indians put 74 balls over the fence to rank No. 3 in the country and amassed 108 doubles during the regular season to rank No. 5 nationally.  Catawba's 414 runs scored this season ranks No. 5 in the nation, while the Catawba defense has turned 39 double-plays this year to rank No. 24 in Division II.

The awards will be presented at the 2016 Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tenn. between games four and five.

2016 SAC Baseball All-Conference Agate

All-SAC First Team
OF – Shane Billings, Wingate
OF – Kevin Victoriano, Tusculum
OF – Rayshelon Carolina, Mars Hill
1B – Steven Cooper, Anderson
2B – Dylan Richardson, Catawba
SS – Evan Rogers, Mars Hill
3B – Brandon Roberts, Carson-Newman
C – Will Albertson, Catawba
DH – Malachi Hanes, Catawba
SP – Placido Torres, Tusculum
SP – Vince Apicella, Carson-Newman
SP – Ethan Elliott, Lincoln Memorial
RP – Bryan Blanton, Catawba

All-SAC Second Team
OF – Daymon Totherow, Newberry
OF – Will Winslow, Coker
OF – Bill Krebs, Wingate
1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba
2B – Zack Finchum, Tusculum
SS – Matthew De La Rosa, Lenoir-Rhyne
3B – Derek Olenchuck, Newberry
C – Jack Leech, Coker
DH – Bradley Brown, Wingate
SP – Dallas Baldwin, Coker
SP – Zack Kelly, Newberry
SP – Russ Weiker, Catawba
RP – Brock Goodling, Anderson

Honorable Mentions
OF – Wes Neiderland, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba
OF – Ryan Addington, Carson-Newman
1B – Creighton Wilke, Tusculum
2B – Schuyler Martire, Brevard
SS – Jean Rodriguez, Lincoln Memorial
3B – Eric Kalman, Lincoln Memorial
C – LJ Newman, Anderson
DH – Dylan Powers, Mars Hill
SP – Daniel Nations, Newberry
SP – Christian Raasch, Tusculum
SP – Brandon Donahue, Wingate
RP – Marshall Rentz, Newberry

All-Defensive Team
RF – Garrett Bernardo, Anderson
CF – Shane Billings, Wingate
LF – Clint Allen, Coker
1B – Creighton Wilke, Tusculum
2B – Dylan Richardson, Catawba
SS – Jeremy Simpson, Catawba
3B – Brandon Roberts, Carson-Newman
C – Gooch Greer, Carson-Newman
P – Daniel Nations, Newberry

Player of the Year
Evan Rogers, Mars Hill

Pitcher of the Year
Placido Torres, Tusculum

Freshman of the Year
Ethan Elliott, Lincoln Memorial

Coach of the Year
Jim Gantt, Catawba

Statistical Champions
Team Batting Average – Coker (.320)
Team Slugging Percentage – Catawba (.516)
Team On-Base Percentage – Lincoln Memorial (.426)
Team Doubles Per Game – Lenoir-Rhyne (2.50)
Team Triples Per Game – Newberry (0.54)
Team Home Runs Per Game – Catawba (1.54)
Team RBIs Per Game – Lincoln Memorial (8.10)
Team Stolen Bases Per Game – Mars Hill (1.96)
Team Earned Run Average – Tusculum (2.85)
Tem Strikeouts Per Game – Tusculum (9.3)