Baseball Lands Three on All-Conference List: Merrill Earns First Team
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Mars Hill baseball team has placed three members on the 2017 South Atlantic Conference All-Conference Team as announced by the league today.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Mars Hill baseball team has placed three members on the 2017 South Atlantic Conference All-Conference Team as announced by the league today. Senior second baseman Hunter Merrill garnered a first team selection and the stolen base statistical champion (0.65), while sophomore outfielder Brett Brubaker found himself on the second team. Junior starting pitcher Zac Brown was named as an honorable mention while also receiving a Gold Glove at his position. As a team the Lions also were tabbed statistical champions with 1.69 total stolen bases per game.
Merrill leads the Lions' offense, hitting .409, which is second in the conference in that category. His 27 stolen bases are tops in the league, while he is second in on-base percentage (.509) and fourth in triples (4). Merrill is second on the team in runs scored (47) as well.
Brubaker follows with a .341 average. A true power hitter for the Lions, Brubaker is third in the SAC in homeruns (13) and RBI (54); and sixth in doubles (16). Brubaker leads MHU with a .671 slugging percentage.
Pitching has been key in the Lions' success as they have a team earned run average of 4.18, which is tops in the SAC. Brown led the Lions in wins on the mound with a 6-3 record and an earned run average of 3.51. He has thrown 77 innings with 75 strikeouts.
2017 SAC Baseball All-Conference
All-SAC First Team
OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba
OF – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Daymon Totherow, Newberry
1B – Timmy Wages, Lincoln Memorial
2B – Hunter Merrill, Mars Hill
SS – Tyler Adams, Lincoln Memorial
3B – John Topoleski, Tusculum
C – Zach Almond, Catawba
DH – Ben Herring, Newberry
SP – Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne
SP – Zack Kelly, Newberry
SP – Ethan Carpenter, Tusculum
RP – Bryan Blanton, Catawba
All-SAC Second Team
OF – Ryan Addington, Carson-Newman
OF – Brett Brubaker, Mars Hill
OF – William Thomas, Anderson
1B – Nick Lacina, Tusculum
2B – Kyle Smith, Catawba
SS – Jeremy Simpson, Catawba
3B – Eric Kalman, Lincoln Memorial
C – Greg Jones, Carson-Newman
DH – Nick Coble, Catawba
SP – Hunter Shepherd, Catawba
SP –Tim Hardy, Tusculum
SP – Brandon Jean, Lincoln Memorial
RP – Griffin Hollifield, Coker
Honorable Mentions
OF – Mason Ewers, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Malachi Hanes, Catawba
OF – Jeremy Glore, Tusculum
1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba
2B – Daulton Martin, Tusculum
SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson
3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman
C – Russell Clark, Lincoln Memorial
DH – Bradley Brown, Wingate
SP – Forrest Arnold, Coker
SP – Zac Brown, Mars Hill
SP – Evan Estridge, Newberry
RP – Dominic Morabito, Lincoln Memorial
Gold Glove
RF – Daymon Totherow, Newberry
CF – Danton Hyman, Newberry
LF – Marcus Shoemaker, Lenoir-Rhyne
1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba
2B – Cody Ezzell, Newberry
SS – Jeremy Simpson, Catawba
3B – John Topoleski, Tusculum
C – Jeff Sneed, Newberry
P – Zac Brown, Mars Hill
Player of the Year
Luke Setzer, Catawba
Pitcher of the Year
Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne
Freshman of the Year
Hunter Shepherd, Catawba
Co-Coach of the Year
Jim Gantt, Catawba
Jeff Sziksai, Lincoln Memorial
Statistical Champions
Team Batting Average – Catawba (.334)
Team Slugging Percentage – Catawba (.559)
Team On-Base Percentage – Lincoln Memorial (.415)
Team Doubles Per Game – Catawba (2.45)
Team Triples Per Game – Lenoir-Rhyne (0.41)
Team Home Runs Per Game – Catawba (1.64)
Team RBIs Per Game – Tusuclum (7.11)
Team Stolen Bases Per Game – Mars Hill (1.69)
Team Earned Run Average – Tusculum (4.32)
Team Strikeouts Per Game – Lenoir-Rhyne (10.6)
Batting Average – Luke Setzer, Catawba (.425)
On-Base Percentage – Timmy Wages, Lincoln Memorial (.516)
Slugging Percentage – Zach Almond, Catawba (.736)
Home Runs Per Game – Zach Almond, Catawba (0.34)
RBIs Per Game – Zach Almond, Catawba (1.27)
Runs Scored Per Game – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial (1.40)
Doubles Per Game – Zach Almond, Catawba (0.44)
Triples Per Game – Justin Dean, Lenoir-Rhyne (0.14)
Stolen Bases Per Game – Hunter Merrill, Mars Hill (0.65)
Earned Run Average – Griffin Hollifield, Coker (1.50)
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings – Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne (13.38)
Pitching Victories – Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne (9)
