Baseball Southern Conference

SoCon Announces May Athletes of the Month

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced its May athletes of the month for baseball on Wednesday, with The Citadel’s Joe Jackson taking Player of the Month honors and Appalachian State’s Tyler Moore earning Pitcher of the Month distinction.

BASEBALL
Player
Joe Jackson, The Citadel, Jr., C
Junior catcher Joe Jackson of The Citadel hit .538 with 26 RBIs, 26 runs, eight doubles, two triples, five home runs and 15 walks in May. He hit safely in 12 of the Bulldogs’ 15 games, with multiple hits in 11 of those contests, and scored at least once in each of the last 14 games. The Most Outstanding Player of the Southern Conference Championship, Jackson hit a staggering .769 in the tournament, going 10-for-13 to become the first player in league history to earn MOP honors in a losing effort. Jackson scored eight runs in the Bulldogs’ four tournament games, adding six walks, three doubles, a triple and a walk-off homer against Appalachian State in The Citadel’s opener. The Mauldin, S.C., native had five games in the month with three hits, including a 3-for-6 day against Davidson on May 3 in which he drove in five runs. The following day, he hit two homers and drew three walks in a 2-for-2 effort at the plate before capping the series with a 3-for-5 day with another home run. Against UNCG on May 16, Jackson hit a homer and two doubles in a 3-for-4 effort in which he drove in four runs. He notched at least one RBI in each of his final eight games of the season and 13 of The Citadel’s 15 May games and slugged 1.058 for the month.

Other nominees: Michael Pierson (Appalachian State), Carl Wise (College of Charleston), Andrew Barna (Davidson), Ryan Kinsella (Elon), Ben Morgan (Georgia Southern), Christiaan Durdaller (Samford), Tyler White (Western Carolina) and Alec Paradowski (Wofford).

Pitcher
Tyler Moore, Appalachian State, Sr., RHP
Appalachian State reliever Tyler Moore went 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five May appearances, all of them against league champions. The senior right-hander made appearances against SoCon tournament champion Elon, West Coast Conference regular-season champion Gonzaga, Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament champion North Carolina and SoCon regular-season champion Western Carolina. Against Elon on May 4, Moore went 1 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out one, before turning in an inning of one-hit relief at Gonzaga on May 12. At No. 2 North Carolina on May 14, the Banner Elk, N.C., native threw three innings of two-hit, scoreless relief as the Mountaineers held the nation’s top run-scoring squad to just two runs. He struck out three. Moore ended his month with consecutive appearances against No. 29 Western Carolina, allowing a run on two hits in three innings in his regular-season finale before turning in perhaps his best appearance of the month in the SoCon Championship. In Appalachian State’s 15-4 win over the top-seeded Catamounts on May 24, Moore worked a career-high seven innings out of the bullpen, allowing two runs, one earned, on seven hits. All told, Moore struck out eight batters and did not issue a walk in 15 1/3 innings of work in May.

Other nominees: Matt Pegler (College of Charleston), Austin Pritcher (The Citadel), Nick Neitzel (Davidson), Andrew McDonald (Elon), Justin Hess (Georgia Southern), Jeremy Null (Western Carolina) and Bradley Evisch (Wofford).


Southern Conference June Athletes of the Month
Baseball – Player    Joe Jackson, The Citadel
Baseball – Pitcher    Tyler Moore, Appalachian State

-www.SoConSports.com-