TUCSON, Ariz. – Three Southern Conference baseball student-athletes earned spots on the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America teams, as selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Mercer’s Kyle Lewis and Samford’s Heath Quinn were second-team selections, while ETSU’s Kevin Phillips was a third-team pick.
Mercer’s Lewis joined Georgia’s Robert Tyler (second team) and Georgia Tech’s Zac Ryan (third team) as the only players to represent NCAA Division I programs in the state of Georgia on the list.
The Snellville, Ga., product had a breakout season in 2015, filling his mantel with a host of national and league honors. The center fielder became the first player in program history to take home the prestigious Gregg Olson Breakout Player of the Year Award, while also garnering second-team All-America recognition from multiple publications to go along with his SoCon Player of the Year accolades. He carried that momentum to the summer, participating in the TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby on ESPN and earning a bid to the Cape Cod League All-Star Game.
Lewis fell just shy of the SoCon triple crown last season, topping the conference in batting average (.367) and home runs (17) while finishing fifth in RBIs (56) on his way to the league’s Player of the Year honors. He also led the SoCon in slugging percentage and total bases in 2015 while posting 28 multiple-hit performances and 15 multiple-RBI efforts.
Quinn, Samford’s native of Birmingham, Ala., and star prospect from Oak Mountain High School, concluded his brilliant sophomore campaign with a .340 batting average, 56 RBIs and 14 home runs. He also led the team with 81 hits and added 57 runs scored. Not to be ignored on the base paths, Quinn finished 8-of-9 in stolen base attempts.
In 2015, Quinn garnered first-team All-Southern Conference honors and anchored the Bulldogs’ powerful offensive lineup from the 3-hole. One of the most decorated players in the SoCon, Quinn also received first-team preseason all-league honors heading into his sophomore campaign.
Named a freshman All-American in 2014, Quinn registered a breakout season in his first year at Samford by hitting .319 with 20 doubles, nine home runs and 48 RBIs. He was named a second-team All-SoCon performer as a true freshman.
On Tuesday, Quinn was joined on the 2016 Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-American Team by LSU’s Jared Poche’, Vanderbilt’s Kyle Wright and Bryan Reynolds, Miami’s Bryan Garcia, Florida’s J.J. Schwarz and Oklahoma’s Sheldon Neuse.
Quinn and the Samford baseball team will begin play in their highly anticipated 2016 campaign on Feb. 19, as the Bulldogs begin a nine-game, season-opening homestand against the Butler Bulldogs at 4 p.m. (CST) at The Griff (Joe Lee Griffin Field). Samford will open the year with consecutive four-game home series against Butler and BYU before played host to crosstown rival UAB on March 1.
Phillips, who has played in 134 games (117 starts) and was on ETSU’s 2013 Atlantic Sun Championship squad, is coming off a banner year where the Buccaneer slugger hit .323 (72-223) with 21 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 55 RBI.s The St. Louis, Mo., native also started all 56 games at first base for the Blue and Gold in 2015.
Phillips also finished the 2015 campaign with 22 multi-hit and 14 multi-RBI games, while reaching base safely in 23 consecutive games from Feb. 28-April 3. The St. Louis, Mo., native ranked 31st nationally in doubles and was eighth in the Southern Conference in RBIs, 13th in home runs and 15th in slugging percentage (.561).
The Buccaneer infielder enters his final collegiate season with 134 career hits, 31 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs and 106 RBIs.