ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum baseball team has been picked to finished fourth in the South Atlantic Conference according to the SAC Coaches' Poll announced league officials Friday.
The Pioneers received 72 total points in a vote of the conference's 10 head baseball coaches. TC head coach Doug Jones, who is entering his 21st season with the Pioneers, returns 16 lettermen from last year's squad that went 30-20 overall and finished fifth in the SAC standings.
Catawba is the preseason favorite to repeat as champions. The Catawba Indians received 99 points including nine first place votes. Lincoln Memorial, who captured the SAC Tournament title last spring, is second with 90 points and one first place nod. Newberry is third with 73 points, followed by Tusculum in fourth and Carson-Newman and Mars Hill who each got 58 points and are tied for fifth.
Wingate is seventh with 48 points, followed by Coker (40), Lenoir-Rhyne (34) and Anderson (22).
The league's media relations directors also announced the 2018 Preseason All-South Atlantic Conference Baseball Team. Tusculum sophomore infielder Daulton Martin was selected to the All-SAC second team after garnering honorable mention laurels at the conclusion of the 2017 campaign.
Martin, a product of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, finished third on the team and 11th in the league with his .372 batting average in 2017. He totaled 64 hits, including 12 doubles, four home runs and a team-high three triples (T11th in SAC). He finished the year with 39 RBI while scoring 36 runs. He led Tusculum with his 94 total bases and a TC-best .547 slugging percentage. He also led the Pioneers with his 27 walks (T15th in SAC) and finished sixth in the SAC with his .471 on-base percentage.
Martin ended the season with an 11-game hitting streak as he batted .525 (21-of-40) with 15 RBI, 13 runs scored, four doubles and three home runs.
Coach Jones is the winningest coach in Tusculum history with his 680 victories, which are the second-most in South Atlantic Conference history.
Tusculum opens the 2018 campaign on Thursday, Feb. 1 when they travel to Embry-Riddle for a 3:30 p.m. contest. It will be the first of four games in Florida where the Pioneers will face Nova Southeastern (Feb. 2), Palm Beach Atlantic (Feb. 3) and Lynn (Feb. 4). Tusculum will open at home Feb. 9-10 with a three-game series with Belmont Abbey. The Pioneers will begin conference play Feb. 23-24 when they host Mars Hill for a three-game series at Pioneer Park.
SAC Baseball Coaches' Poll
|
Rk |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
Pts |
|
1 |
Catawba (9) |
99 |
|
2 |
Lincoln Memorial (1) |
90 |
|
3 |
Newberry |
73 |
|
4 |
TUSCULUM |
72 |
|
5 |
Carson-Newman |
58 |
|
|
Mars Hill |
58 |
|
7 |
Wingate |
48 |
|
8 |
Coker |
40 |
|
9 |
Lenoir-Rhyne |
34 |
|
10 |
Anderson |
22 |
2018 SAC Baseball Preseason All-Conference Team
First Team
OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba
OF – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Brett Brubaker, Mars Hill
1B – Timmy Wages, Lincoln Memorial
2B – Kyle Smith, Catawba
SS – Tyler Adams, Lincoln Memorial
3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman
C – Matt Honeycutt, Mars Hill
DH – Ben Herring, Newberry
SP – Hunter Shepherd, Catawba
SP – Zac Brown, Mars Hill
SP – Evan Estridge, Newberry
RP – Griffin Hollifield, Coker
Second Team
OF – William Thomas, Anderson
OF – Mason Ewers, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Ty Andrus, Wingate
1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba
2B – Daulton Martin, Tusculum
SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson
3B – Christian Stampler, Mars Hill
C – Andrew Llewellyn, Wingate
DH – Bradley Brown, Wingate
SP – Jared Mathewson, Mars Hill
SP – Will Gardner, Carson-Newman
SP – Hunter Hamilton, Wingate
RP – Dominic Morabito, Lincoln Memorial
