ROCK HILL, S.C. --- For the second year in a row, Tusculum starting pitcher Taylor Rakes has been selected as the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, a distinction that honors student-athletes for their excellence in academic, athletics, service and leadership.

This marks the eighth time a Tusculum baseball player has earned this honor and the fifth time in the last seven years.

Rakes becomes only the third player in SAC baseball history to earn multiple Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, joining Carson-Newman alums Ben Deaton (1999-00) and Deron Walraven (1996-97) as two-time winners.

Rakes, who earned the 2011-12 SAC Presidents Award as the conference's top overall scholar-athlete, went 5-2 during the 2013 regular season for Tusculum, sporting a 3.17 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 71 innings pitched. He has allowed opponents to hit just .268 this season while surrendering only 22 walks.

The senior came back from Tommy John surgery to make the All-SAC Second Team and the SAC Gold Glove Team last year, and earned a selection to the 2013 preseason Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Players to Watch list.

Rakes graduated from Tusculum last year a 3.89 GPA studying economics and international business and is currently working on his Master's degree at Tennessee's oldest college. He was named to the Capital One Academic All-America® first team last season, and is a multi-year member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, the Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, the Tusculum Dean's List, the Charles Oliver Gray Honors List and the Alpha Chi Honors Society. He received an Economic & International Business Achievement Award and a Senior Key Award for Business Administration from TC in 2012.

An active volunteer, Rakes gives his time to groups that include soup kitchens, cancer research fundraisers and the Nettie Day of Service, and provides free lawn care to families of deployed military members. On campus, he is a member of the Tusculum College Business Club and the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In 2011, he participated in the inaugural SAC Student-Athlete Leadership Conference.

"Taylor represents our school, conference and the NCAA in a way that should make us all proud," said TC baseball coach Doug Jones. "Taylor is a very goal-oriented person in everything he does, and is always striving to be the very best he can be."

The SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award recognizes one male and one female student-athlete in each of the conference's 14 championship sports. The awards are chosen by a vote of the conference's Faculty Athletic Representatives Committee.

- SAC -