2026 All-SoCon Baseball Teams Announced

SPARTANBURG, SC – Mercer outfielder Chris Katz was named 2026 SoCon Player of the Year and Wofford ace Alec Bouchard was named 2026 SoCon Pitcher of the Year in voting by the conference’s eight head coaches Tuesday afternoon in advance of the 2026 SoCon Baseball Championship, presented by Holston Gases.

Mercer pitcher Garrett Lambert was named 2026 SoCon Freshman of the Year and The Citadel third baseball Aryan Patel earned the second annual SoCon Golden Glove Award as the circuit’s top defender. Mercer head coach Craig Gibson was named 2026 SoCon Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to their first SoCon regular season crown since 2017.

Katz (Raleigh, NC / Heritage HS) enjoyed a sensational regular season, batting .374 with 17 doubles, 20 home runs, and 71 RBI for the high-powered Bears’ offense. He is tied for the SoCon lead with 79 hits and leads the conference in runs scored, RBI, on base percentage, and total bases. He fuels a Mercer offense that leads the SoCon in 12 different major offensive categories.

Bouchard (Soddy Daisy, TN / Notre Dame HS) anchored the Terriers’ rotation in 2026, finishing the regular season with a 9-2 record, 2.29 ERA, and 101 strikeouts in 82.2 innings of work. The righthander leads the SoCon in victories, strikeouts, innings pitched, and WHIP (1.09) through 14 starts. Bouchard was at his best in a pair of SoCon wins, tossing 7.0 shutout innings and fanning 12 in a win at The Citadel on April 10, then striking out a season-high 14 batters with no walks in a 9.0 inning win over Western Carolina on May 1.

Lambert (Lilburn, GA / Parkview HS) lived up to his preseason billing after being tabbed as the SoCon’s preseason Freshman of the Year by both D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game. He finished with a 5-0 record in 14 starts, forging a 4.55 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 65.1 innings pitched. Lambert was 3-0 with a 4.29 ERA in seven SoCon starts.

Patel (Hanahan, SC / Hanahan HS) collected the most votes on the 2026 SoCon All-Defensive Team, earning the Golden Glove Award. Patel has 46 starts at third base this season, fielding a clean .975 with only four errors in 163 chances.

Gibson has his Mercer Bears on a roll, entering the 2026 postseason on an eight-game win streak. The veteran head coach has now earned SoCon Coach of the year three times and has directed the Bears to four SoCon regular season titles. Mercer (43-13, 15-6 SoCon) is 18-1 since a four-game skid in mid-April, bolstering the team’s RPI to No. 26 nationally this week.

Mercer led the way with eighth All-SoCon selections, including seven on the first team. ETSU (6) and The Citadel (5) were close behind. All eight schools had at least one All-SoCon selection this season.

The 2026 SoCon Baseball Championship, presented by Holston Gases, begins on Wednesday morning at 9:00 (ESPN+) with The Citadel battling VMI in a rivalry rematch of last weekend’s series. Four games will be played Wednesday, before top-seed Mercer and second-seed Western Carolina take the field on Thursday morning.

The entire All-SoCon Baseball Team is listed below:

Player of the Year

Chris Katz, Sr., OF, Mercer (Raleigh, NC)

Pitcher of the Year

Alec Bouchard, Jr., RHP, Wofford (Soddy Daisy, TN)

Freshman of the Year

Garrett Lambert, R-Fr., RHP, Mercer (Lilburn, GA)

Golden Glove Award (Defensive Player of the Year)

Aryan Patel, Sr., 3B, The Citadel (Hanahan, SC)

Coach of the Year

Craig Gibson, Mercer

First-Team All-SoCon

SP – Alec Bouchard, Wofford

SP – Garrett Lambert, Mercer

SP – Will Holmes, The Citadel

RP – Mason Snyder, Western Carolina

RP – Jess Ackerman, Mercer

RP – Zak Spurrier, Samford

C – Cade Carr, Samford

1B – Grayson Fitzwater, VMI

1B – Tristan Curless, ETSU

2B – Trent Turner, Western Carolina

SS – Titan Kamaka, Mercer

3B – Brant Baughcum, Mercer

OF – Chris Katz, Mercer

OF – Eli Stephens, Mercer

OF – Jake Souders, Samford

DH – Braydon Kersey, Mercer

Second-Team All-SoCon

SP – Michael Harpster, ETSU

SP – Andrew Buffkin, The Citadel

SP – Cullen Condon, Wofford

RP – Michael Gibson, The Citadel

RP – Andrew Garnett, Mercer

RP – Zane Davis, The Citadel

C – Cole Raile, VMI

C – Noah Quarless, Western Carolina

1B – Michael Gibson, The Citadel

2B – Ian Guanzon, ETSU

SS – Henry Ferguson, ETSU

3B – Jacob Budzik, UNC Greensboro

OF – Ben Timblin, Wofford

OF – Jamie Palmese, ETSU

OF – Luke Boykin, Samford

DH – Nate Conner, ETSU

2026 SoCon All-Freshman Team

Garrett Lambert, P, Mercer

Jaylen Jones, OF, Western Carolina

Brady Gold, SS, Wofford

Jayden Williams, OF, The Citadel

Evan Myers, P, Western Carolina

Eddie Marshall, C, Samford

Cooper Jones, P, ETSU

Tanner Berry, C, UNC Greensboro

Mason Ault, C, ETSU

Ethan Buffone, 2B, Mercer

Ayden West, P, UNC Greensboro

Buddy Baker, P, VMI

2026 SoCon All-Defensive Team

Aryan Patel, 3B, The Citadel

Grayson Fitzwater, 1B, VMI

Owen Prince, OF, VMI

Henry Ferguson, SS, ETSU

Jayden Williams, OF, The Citadel

Parker McDonald, 3B, Samford

Jamie Palmese, OF, ETSU

Cade Carr, C, Samford

Jeff Ince, 2B, Samford

Niko Brini, OF, Wofford

Trent Turner, 2B, Western Carolina        

Gus Gandy, SS, Samford