SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Several Southern Conference baseball players earned spots on national watch lists in the last week. The College Baseball Foundation announced several watch lists for the Brooks Wallace Award, National Pitcher of the Year and the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year, while the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission announced additions to the watch list for the Johnny Bench Award.
Mercer’s Matt Meeder and Western Carolina’s Brett Pope appear on the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award, which honors the top NCAA Division I shortstop. Furman’s Jake Crawford landed on the watch list for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year and The Citadel’s JP Sears and Samford’s Wyatt Burns earned spots on the National Pitcher of the Year list.
Meeder is batting .325 in 27 games played this season along with 16 RBIs, seven doubles and a .426 on base percentage. The Roswell, Georgia, native was named to the Preseason All-SoCon First Team after earning postseason First Team and All-Tournament honors last year.
Pope has started all 35 games this season – and 100 of his 117 career starts – at short for the Catamounts over the past three seasons. He currently ranks second on the team with a .323 batting average, tied for the team lead with 50 base hits, including five doubles, a triple and the first two home runs of his collegiate career. Pope leads WCU with 17 multiple hit games, and he is coming off an eight-game hitting streak that included eight-consecutive multi-hit games.
Crawford has appeared in 33 games with 32 starts at third base, hitting .266 with eight doubles, a home run and 15 RBIs on the year. He has also made 14 mound appearances, posting a 1-2 record with four saves.
Sears is 4-1 with a 1.74 ERA and an NCAA Division I-best 87 strikeouts in just 57 innings pitched so far this season. He struck out 20 VMI batters on March 24, the DI single-game high this season, and was also recently named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list.
Samford closer Burns is 3-0 with a 2.79 ERA this season, and his 12 saves lead the SoCon and are good for second nationally.
Mercer’s Charlie Madden was added to the watch list for the Johnny Bench Award, which honors the top Division I catcher. The Dunwoody, Georgia, native owns a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage behind the plate while ranking among national leaders offensively. Madden, a Perfect Game Midseason All-American, is batting a career-best .291 and ranks fifth nationally with 14 home runs.
He joins ETSU’s Hagen Owenby, UNCG’s Jake Kusz, VMI’s Peyton Maddox and Wofford’s Carson Waln, who were on the initial list.