Big South Announces 2018 Baseball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point senior outfielder Austen Zente (High Point, N.C.) and Campbell redshirt-senior hurler Allan Winans (Bakersfield, Calif.) have been voted the 2018 Big South Baseball Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this morning. In addition, Campbell head coach Justin Haire was voted Coach of the Year, while Camels’ pitcher Logan Bender (Dunn, N.C.) was selected Big South Freshman of the Year. Charleston Southern junior outfielder Josh Litchfield (Summerville, S.C.) was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
Zente is the first High Point Panther to be voted Player of the Year since 2010 as he concluded the Big South season with a .388 batting average to rank third in the league. He hit a league-leading 10 home runs vs. conference opponents, in addition to ranking first in Big South action with a .512 on-base percentage, .738 slugging clip, 76 total bases and tied for the most stolen bases (13). The April 9 Big South Player of the Week, Zente was second with 34 runs and 40 hits, and tied for sixth with 23 RBI. Overall, he scored at least one run in 37 of his 52 appearances -- including 21 of 26 Big South contests, recorded 17 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI efforts. Zente finished the regular-season with a .319 batting average with 13 home runs, 37 RBI, a .451 on-base average and .574 slugging percentage. He was second in the league with 53 runs scored, was third with 23 steals and tied for fourth with 108 total bases in helping the Panthers to a school-record 19 Big South victories in 2018. Zente received five first-place votes and 17 points in the voting, just ahead of Campbell’s Matthew Barefoot (one first-place vote and 15 points) and Liberty’s Tre Todd (two first-place votes and 13 points).
Winans becomes the first Camel to win Big South Pitcher of the Year honors since 2013 after he led all Big South starting pitchers with a 2.51 earned run average and .214 opponents’ batting average. He was tops in the conference in fewest runs (25) and earned runs (19) allowed, and finished the regular-season third in the league with 82 punchouts. Winans was 6-4 overall on the hill in 68.0 innings pitched and posted a 10.85 strikeouts per 9 innings ratio, which ranked second in the league. In Big South outings, he went 4-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 42.0 innings of work. The May 7 Big South Starting Pitcher of the Week, Winans posted the highest winning percentage in league games (minimum five decisions), fanned 12 batters in a game twice this season, and his 4.32 strikeout-to-walk ratio was fourth in the league. He received five first-place votes and 22 points, ahead of High Point reliever Rion Murrah (three first-place votes and 16 points) and Radford starter Austin Ross (one first-place vote and 13 points).
Haire earns his first Big South Coach of the Year honor after leading the Camels to their first outright Big South regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in this week’s Big South Baseball Championship presented by Hardee’s. His squad won the Big South with a 21-6 record -- the first 20-win conference season in the Big South in two years -- and won eight of nine league series, four of which were sweeps. Campbell was also one of just two teams to win 30 games during the regular-season. The Camels led the Big South in sacrifice hits (41), strikeouts (496), opponents’ batting average (.240) and fewest home runs allowed (27), while ranking second with 83 stolen bases, 12 saves and a 4.39 ERA, as well as third with 47 homers. In Big South contests, Campbell was tops in ERA (3.31), opponents’ batting average (2.10), strikeouts (247), saves (8) and fewest hits allowed (181). The Camels collected notable non-conference wins over then-No. 5 N.C. State, Ohio State and Pepperdine in 2018. Haire collected six first-place votes and 22 points, ahead of High Point’s Craig Cozart (three first-place votes and 19 points).
Bender becomes Campbell’s first Big South Freshman of the Year honoree since 1994 and second overall. He was 4-1 with two saves in his team-high 24 relief appearances, and led the Camels’ bullpen with a .250 ERA and .165 opposing batting average. He fanned 55 batters in just 39.2 innings, good for a 12.48 strikeouts per 9 innings ratio. The March 19 Big South Freshman of the Week honoree posted a 0.87 ERA and 3-0 record over 20.2 innings in Big South play, and limited conference foes to a .127 batting clip while striking out 26. Bender received six first-place votes and 23 points in the voting, ahead of High Point’s Tanner Wells (two first-place votes and 16 points) and Charleston Southern’s Christian Maggio (one first-place vote and 10 points).
Litchfield is the first Charleston Southern player since 1997 to be voted Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Earlier this month, Litchfield was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District 4 honoree as he boasts a 4.00 cumulative grade point average as a management major. He played all 52 of the Bucs’ regular-season games, batted .272 and tied for the team lead in steals.
The Conference also announced the 2018 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Tuesday morning, which are listed below. The All-Conference teams are voted by the head coaches, while the All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the league’s sports information directors.
2018 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Austen Zente, Sr., High Point
OF - Matthew Barefoot, R-Soph., Campbell
OF - D.J. Artis, Jr., Liberty
INF - Mitch Spires, Sr., Winthrop
INF - Hunter Lee, Sr., High Point
INF - Jonathan White, Jr., Presbyterian
INF - Corey Howard, Jr., Gardner-Webb
C - Daniel Millwee, R-Jr., High Point
UTL - Tre Todd, Jr., Liberty
DH - Jeff Hahs, Sr., Campbell
SP - Allan Winans, R-Sr., Campbell
SP - Austin Ross, R-Sr., Radford
SP - Andrew Gottfried, Jr., High Point
RP - Rion Murrah, Sr., High Point
RP - Logan Bender, R-Fr., Campbell
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - A.J. Priaulx, Sr., Presbyterian
OF - Chris Clary, Jr., Gardner-Webb
OF - Mickey Dugan, Sr., Gardner-Webb
INF - Christian Jones, Sr., Campbell
INF - Spencer Horwitz, Soph., Radford
INF - Tyler Halstead, Sr., Winthrop
INF - Travis Holt, Fr., High Point
C - Christian Maggio, Fr., Charleston Southern
UTL - Mike Sconzo, Sr., Charleston Southern
DH - Chandler Redmond, Jr., Gardner-Webb
SP - Bradley Hallman, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SP - Nate Pawelczyk, Jr., Winthrop
SP - Michael Horrell, Jr., Campbell
RP - Tyson Messer, Jr., Campbell
RP - Ryan Hedrick, Sr., Presbyterian
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Zach Peek, Soph., SP, Winthrop
Mason Fox, Jr., OF, Gardner-Webb
Tyler Galazin, Jr., INF, Liberty
Sammy Miller, Sr., OF, Longwood
Garret Price, Soph., SP, Liberty
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Kyle Mehl, Sr., INF, Campbell
Josh Litchfield, Jr., OF, Charleston Southern
Eric Jones, Jr., 3B, Gardner-Webb
Andrew Gottfried, Jr., RHP, High Point
Zach Clinton, Jr., P Liberty
Zach Potojecki, Sr., RHP, Longwood
AJ Priaulx, Sr., LF, Presbyterian College
Kyle Palmer, R-Sr., LHP, Radford
Jesse Juday, Sr., RHP, UNC Asheville
Hunter Lipscomb, Jr., OF, Winthrop
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Austen Zente, OF, Sr., High Point
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Allan Winans, RHP, R-Sr., Campbell
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Logan Bender, RP, R-Fr., Campbell
COACH OF THE YEAR
Justin Haire, Campbell
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Josh Litchfield, Jr., OF, Charleston Southern