Baseball Southern Conference

SoCon media select all-conference baseball teams

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Southern Conference runner-up Samford put a league-best seven players on the SoCon Sports Media Association’s all-conference baseball teams, including SoCon Freshman of the Year Austin Edens. League champion Mercer claimed two of the four individual awards, with outfielder Kyle Lewis being named SoCon Player of the Year and Craig Gibson being tabbed SoCon Coach of the Year. The Citadel’s James Reeves was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year.

The SoCon media chose two 12-member all-conference teams, with Samford boasting a league-best three first-team selections. The Citadel, VMI and Wofford had two first-team picks each, and the Terriers were second in the SoCon with four total all-conference picks. Mercer was third with three.

Edens, the Bulldogs’ rookie designated hitter from Baton Rouge, La., is hitting a team-best .358, the fourth-best mark in the league. Edens is also fourth in the SoCon with a .637 slugging percentage and 13 home runs and fifth with a .438 on-base percentage. A two-time SoCon Player of the Week this season, Edens was named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week on April 20 after leading the Bulldogs to four wins with five home runs that week. Edens has turned in 20 multiple-hit games this season.

Edens is joined on the first team by Bulldog teammates Andres Gracia (relief pitcher) and Hunter Swilling (third base). Starting pitcher Alex Ledford, catcher Richard Greene, first baseman Alex Lee and outfielder Heath Quinn earned spots on the second team.

Lewis helped Mercer to its first SoCon regular-season title by hitting a league-best .386 and slugging a SoCon-high .708. He also shares the conference leads with 16 home runs and 143 total bases and is second with 78 hits. Also a two-time SoCon Player of the Week this season, Lewis was a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week on May 4 after hitting .538 with three home runs in a three-game sweep of VMI. The sophomore native of Snellville, Ga., was also the SoCon Player of the Month for March.

Joining Lewis on the all-conference team were Mercer starter Eric Nyquist and shortstop Matt Meeder, both second-team selections.

Gibson earned his second career Coach of the Year honor after leading the Bears to the regular-season SoCon title in their first season in the league. Also the Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year in 2013, Gibson directed Mercer to a 31-21 overall record and 16-7 league mark this year. The 30-win season was the sixth straight for Mercer and eighth under Gibson overall. The Bears lost just one league series this season.

Reeves becomes The Citadel’s fourth SoCon Pitcher of the Year in the last seven seasons. The redshirt-junior southpaw is 7-3 so far this season and boasts a 3.44 ERA, the second-best mark in the league. The Summerville, S.C., native is holding opposing hitters to a league-low .222 batting average and is tied for second in the league with 103 strikeouts on the season in 83 2/3 innings pitched. Reeves threw the sixth no-hitter in Citadel history on April 2, striking out 14 batters in a 4-0 win over league-leading Mercer. He also struck out 14 batters in a season-opening win over Air Force, earning national player of the week honors after both performances.

Citadel outfielder Connor Walsh was also a first-team all-conference selection.

2015 SoCon Sports Media Association Baseball All-Conference

Player of the Year – Kyle Lewis, So., OF, Mercer
Pitcher of the Year – James Reeves, R-Jr., LHP, The Citadel
Freshman of the Year – Austin Edens, DH, Samford
Coach of the Year – Craig Gibson, Mercer

First Team
SP    James Reeves, The Citadel
SP    Matthew Milburn, Wofford
RP    Andres Gracia, Samford
C    Matt Winn, VMI
1B    Conor Clancey, Wofford
2B    Bradley Strong, Western Carolina
SS    Jordan Tarsovich, VMI
3B    Hunter Swilling, Samford
OF    Connor Walsh, The Citadel
OF    Kyle Lewis, Mercer
OF    Eric Kalbfleisch, UNCG
DH    Austin Edens, Samford

Second Team
SP    Eric Nyquist, Mercer
SP    Alex Ledford, Samford
RP    Will Stillman, Wofford
C    Richard Greene, Samford
1B    Alex Lee, Samford
2B    Trey York, ETSU
SS    Matt Meeder, Mercer
3B    Chris Ohmstede, Furman
OF    Jake Jones, Furman
OF    Heath Quinn, Samford
OF    James Plaisted, Wofford
DH    Matt Smith, Western Carolina

-www.SoConSports.com-