TUCSON, Ariz. – Three Southern Conference student-athletes earned spots on the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team, selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper and announced Wednesday. ETSU’s Hagen Owenby, Mercer’s Trey Rule and Samford’s Austin Edens earned spots on the team.
All three were SoCon All-Freshman picks, with Samford’s Edens being chosen the league’s Freshman of the Year by both the coaches and media.
ETSU’s Owenby hit .310 (53-171) with 11 doubles, seven home runs, 26 runs, and 38 RBIs in 47 games played this past season for ETSU.
The Buccaneer freshman catcher recorded 15 multi-hit and 14 multi-RBI games for the Blue and Gold in 2015, while leading ETSU with a .373 batting average (25-for-67) in SoCon play
Owenby recorded at least one hit in 32 games, while finishing with a career-best four hits at Mercer on March 21. The Knoxville, Tenn., native hit safely in 15 of his 18 conference games played – including seven multi-hit games against SoCon teams. Owenby was named SoCon Player of the Week (May 18) after hitting .467 (7-for-15) with two doubles, two home runs, six runs and eight RBIs in the final week of regular-season play.
Mercer’s Truitt, a 6-foot-1 outfielder, started 53 games for the Bears during his rookie campaign, batting .276 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs. He tied a SoCon record with three grand slams in 2015, while also totaling 15 multiple-hit performances on the year.
Truitt also made his mark in the field as one of Mercer's top defensive standouts. The Dothan, Ala., native robbed five home runs on the season and tallied six outfield assists.
Mercer has placed five players on the Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American team since 2008, as Truitt joins Chesny Young (2012), Derrick Workman (2011), Jacob Tanis (2009) and Joe Winker (2008) as Bears who have received the prestigious honor.
Edens led Samford and ranked third in the Southern Conference with a .357 batting average, and he led the squad and ranked second in the league in slugging percentage at .662. He was also the team leader and ranked fourth in the league in on-base percentage at .442.
Edens also ranked in the top 10 in the SoCon in home runs (T-2nd, 16), total bases (3rd, 141), doubles (T-6th, 17), walks (T-7th, 30) and runs batted in (9th, 54). Throughout the season, Edens produced 22 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI games.
During his freshman season, Edens helped lead Samford to a second-place finish in the SoCon standings with a 14-10 league mark. The team posted an overall record of 32-26 and reached the finals of the SoCon Baseball Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties for the fourth time in the last five years.