Baseball Southern Conference

SoCon Media Pick Baseball All-Conference Team

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Southern Conference regular-season baseball champion Western Carolina earned two of the four individual awards in the Southern Conference Sports Media Association voting, with third baseman Tyler White being named Player of the Year and skipper Bobby Moranda being voted Coach of the Year. The Citadel’s Austin Pritcher is the league’s Pitcher of the Year and UNCG second baseman Benigno Marrero is the Freshman of the Year.

The SoCon media also chose two all-conference teams.

Moranda directed the Catamounts to a 38-18 overall mark and a 23-7 SoCon record, guiding WCU to its 12th regular-season league title and first since 2007. The Catamounts jumped into the national rankings at No. 29 in the Collegiate Baseball poll last week, making their first appearance in the national polls since 2003. Western Carolina won 21 of its final 24 regular-season games, including a school-record stretch of 16 straight league wins.

White is hitting .357 on the year and leads the league with 25 doubles, one shy of WCU’s single-season record. White also has 13 home runs, good for fourth in the SoCon, and is slugging .626, also fourth in the league. The senior from Forest City, N.C., leads the conference with 149 total bases and is third with 58 RBIs. In league contests, White is hitting .416, the second-best mark in the SoCon. His slugging percentage in SoCon action is .715, while he has 38 RBs, both good for second. Seventeen of his 25 doubles this season have come against SoCon opponents.

In voting that mirrored the SoCon coaches’, Pritcher was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year after posting an 8-2 record and a SoCon-best 2.45 ERA. The James Island, S.C., senior has 72 strikeouts on the year and is holding opposing batters to just a .237 average on the year. Pritcher has thrown two complete games, including a shutout, and has thrown 92 innings, second-most by a SoCon pitcher this season. He has been named the SoCon Pitcher of the Week and Pitcher of the Month twice each this season.

Marrero is ninth in the league with a .352 batting average this season. The rookie from Greensboro, N.C., started 54 of UNCG’s 55 contests at second base this season, putting together an impressive inaugural campaign that saw him compile 10 doubles and three homers among his 70 hits. He scored 36 runs, drove in 28 and drew 16 walks.

The Citadel and Western Carolina placed six members each on the all-conference teams, while Appalachian State, Elon and Samford had three each.


2013 SoCon Sports Media Association Baseball All-Conference

Player of the Year – Tyler White, Sr., 3B, Western Carolina
Pitcher of the Year – Austin Pritcher, Sr., RHP, The Citadel
Freshman of the Year – Benigno Marrero, 2B, UNCG
Coach of the Year – Bobby Moranda, Western Carolina

First Team
SP    Jamie Nunn, Appalachian State
SP    Austin Pritcher, The Citadel
RP    Preston Hatcher, Western Carolina
C    Joe Jackson, The Citadel
1B    Ryan Kinsella, Elon
2B    Hector Crespo, Appalachian State
SS    Aaron Attaway, Western Carolina
3B    Tyler White, Western Carolina
OF    Christian Wolfe, UNCG
OF    Christiaan Durdaller, Samford
OF    Phillip Ervin, Samford
OF    Julian Ridings, Western Carolina
DH    C.K. Irby, Samford

Second Team
SP    Kyle Webb, Elon
SP    Jeremy Null, Western Carolina
RP    Skylar Hunter, The Citadel
C    Adam Martin, Western Carolina
1B    Calvin Orth, The Citadel
2B    Blake Butler, College of Charleston
SS    Will Callaway, Appalachian State
3B    Chris Ohmstede, Furman
OF    Brandon Murray, College of Charleston
OF    Hughston Armstrong, The Citadel
OF    Sebastian Gomez, Elon
DH    Bo Thompson, The Citadel

-www.SoConSports.com-