Big South Announces 2016 Baseball All-Conference and Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Coastal Carolina senior outfielder Connor Owings (Gilbert, S.C.) and Chanticleers’ junior hurler Andrew Beckwith (Blythewood, S.C.) have been voted the 2016 Big South Baseball Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the conference office. In addition, Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore was voted Coach of the Year, while Liberty outfielder D.J. Artis (Greensboro, N.C,) was selected Big South Freshman of the Year. Gardner-Webb infielder Patrick Graham (Cary, N.C.) was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
Owings, a three-time Big South Player of the Week honoree this year, is a Semifinalist for the Gregg Olson Award, which honors the top amateur baseball player who elevates his game to an elite level throughout the season. Owings, who has battled kidney disease during his collegiate career, closed the regular-season as the lone Big South player with a .400 batting average (.405). He also leads the conference with a .751 slugging percentage and on-base percentage (.517), and is the only player in the nation batting .400 and slugging at least .750. He tied for the league-lead with 54 runs scored, had 15 home runs, 48 RBI, went 14-of-15 in stolen bases and reached base safely in 50 of his 55 appearances. In Big South games, Owings led the league in seven offensive categories, headlined by a 1.013 slugging clip and .474 batting average. He hit 11 of his 15 home runs against Big South foes, walked 25 times and drove in 26. Owings finished with seven first-place votes and 29 total points in the voting to become Coastal’s first Player of the Year honoree since 2012. Gardner-Webb’s Collin Thacker was second with two first-place votes and 12 total points.
Beckwith becomes the first Chanticleer to win Pitcher of the Year honors since 2012. The righthander went 9-1 this season with two saves and a conference-best 1.73 earned run average -- the only Big South pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA. He struck out 55 batters in 72.2 innings with just 10 walks. Beckwith moved to the rotation in the second half of the Big South season and pitched at least five innings in four of his seven league appearances. Named Big South Pitcher of the Week on April 4, Beckwith was tops with a 7-0 record and 0.76 ERA in conference action, in addition to 29 strikeouts in 35.1 innings pitched. Big South hitters managed just a .231 batting average off him with no home runs and five walks. From March 16-April 25, Beckwith did not allow an earned run in 33.0 innings pitched. He finished with six first-place votes and 25 total points in the voting, ahead of Gardner-Webb ace Brad Haymes (three first-place votes and 20 points).
Gilmore is now a nine-time Coach of the Year recipient, and receives his seventh award in 12 years. He led the Chanticleers to their first Big South regular-season title since 2012 and 16th overall. Coastal won 20 Big South games for the first time since 2011 (21-3) and has been a staple in the Top 25 national polls all season. The Chanticleers won at least six consecutive games three times during the 2016 campaign, and is 23-6 since April 1. CCU, which posted wins over nationally-ranked Virginia, UNC Wilmington and College of Charleston this season, leads the Big South in hitting (.305), slugging (.500), runs (437), hits (563), home runs (85), walks (276) and stolen bases (96). In their 24 conference games, the Chanticleers were tops with a .320 batting average, 2.72 earned run average and just eight home runs allowed. Gilmore collected five first-place votes and 21 total points in the voting, ahead of Longwood’s Ryan Mau (four first-place votes and 16 total points).
Artis becomes Liberty’s fifth Big South Rookie/Freshman of the Year and third in the last five years. The outfielder closed the regular season with a team-high .379 batting average, which slots him third in the conference. He is also one of two players in the league with an on-base percentage above .500 at .509. Artis ranks third in stolen bases (22), fifth in hits (77) and sixth in runs scored (51), and enters this week’s Big South Championship on a nine-game hitting streak. The freshman recorded 28 multi-game on the year. In Big South games, Artis batted .374 (highest among all freshmen), and was second with 22 walks and 11 stolen bases. He received five first-place votes and 24 total points in the voting, ahead of Gardner-Webb catcher Justin Kunz (three first-place votes and 15 total points).
Graham becomes the first Gardner-Webb player to earn Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors since Dusty Quattlebaum claimed the honor in 2011. Earlier this month, Graham was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District III honoree, as he boasts a 3.91 cumulative grade point average as an economics/finance major. He closed the 2016 regular season with a .321 average and enters the postseason on a seven-game hitting streak.
The Conference also announced the 2016 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Monday, 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.
2016 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Connor Owings, Sr., Coastal Carolina
OF - D.J. Artis, Fr., Liberty
OF - Danny Sullivan, Jr., Gardner-Webb
INF - Zach Remillard, Sr., Coastal Carolina
INF - Collin Thacker, Jr., Gardner-Webb
INF - Chris Clare, Jr., High Point
INF - Matt Parrish, Sr., Campbell
C - Justin Kunz, Fr., Gardner-Webb
UTL - Andrew Yacyk, Jr., Liberty
DH - G.K. Young, Jr., Coastal Carolina
SP - Andrew Beckwith, Jr., Coastal Carolina
SP - Brad Haymes, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SP - Travis Burnette, Sr., Longwood
RP - Mike Morrison, Sr., Coastal Carolina
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Anthony Paulsen, Jr., Winthrop
OF - Weston Jackson, R-Jr., Presbyterian College
OF - Joe Tietjen, Jr., UNC Asheville
INF - Michael Paez, Jr., Coastal Carolina
INF - Dominic Fazio, Sr., High Point
INF - Danny Hrbek, Jr., Radford
INF - Connar Bastaich, Sr., Longwood
C - Roger Gonzalez, Sr., Winthrop
UTL - Kevin Hickey, Sr., Charleston Southern
DH - Alex Lewis, Jr., Longwood
SP - Grant Yost, Sr., Campbell
SP - Alex Cunningham, R-Jr., Coastal Carolina
SP - Andrew Gottfried, Fr., High Point
RP - Wil Sellers, R-Soph., Gardner-Webb
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Billy Cooke, Soph., Coastal Carolina
INF - Anthony Lopez, Sr., Campbell
SP - Jeremy Walker, Jr., Gardner-Webb
INF - Mark Lowrie, Sr., Winthrop
OF - Sly Edwards, Sr., Charleston Southern
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Matt Parrish, Sr., Campbell
Daniel Johnson, Soph., Charleston Southern
Tyler Chadwick, Sr., Coastal Carolina
Patrick Graham, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Tyler Britton, Sr., High Point
Andrew Yacyk, Jr., Liberty
Michael Catlin, Soph., Longwood
AJ Priaulx, Soph., Presbyterian College
Tyler Swarmer, Sr., Radford
Joe Tietjen, Jr., UNC Asheville
Zach Cook, Sr., Winthrop
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Connor Owings, OF, Sr., Coastal Carolina
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Andrew Beckwith, RHP, Jr., Coastal Carolina
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
D.J. Artis, OF, Fr., Liberty
COACH OF THE YEAR
Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Patrick Graham, 1B, Sr., Gardner-Webb