Big South Announces 2021 Baseball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Campbell infielder
Zach Neto (Miami, Fla.) and USC Upstate hurler
Jordan Marks (Bright’s Grove, Ontario) have been voted the 2021 Big South Baseball Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon. In addition, Gardner-Webb head coach
Jim Chester and Campbell’s
Justin Haire were voted Co-Coach of the Year, while Camels’ pitcher
Thomas Harrington (Sanford, N.C.) was selected Big South Freshman of the Year. Marks was also voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
Neto finished the regular-season as the Big South’s leading hitter with a .418 batting average -- the lone player above .400, along with 10 home runs, 50 RBI, 41 runs scored, 15 doubles, one triple, 12 stolen bases, a .752 slugging clip and .494 on-base average. He has made starts at every infield position, as well as on the mound and at designated hitter, and had a 20-game hit streak from April 2-May 7. Neto has the highest batting average in the country by any player that has also pitched this season, as he went 4-0 on the hill with a 3.60 ERA in 10 appearances. He was a four-time Big South weekly award winner (three freshman, one player), and ranks second in the conference in slugging and OBP, and third in RBI. In 30 Big South games, Neto batted .442 with nine homers, 45 RBI, a .775 slugging percentage and .514 on-base percentage. Neto received eight first-place votes and 26 points in the voting, ahead of UNC Asheville’s
Brandon Lankford (two first-place votes and 18 points).
Marks concluded the regular-season with a 10-1 record -- the league’s only 10-game winner, and was the conference leader with a 2.01 earned run average and 94.0 innings pitched, while ranking second with 100 strikeouts. A four-time Big South Pitcher of the Week honoree this season, he has set single-season school records for strikeouts and wins. Marks, who was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, also led the Big South fewest runs (26) and earned runs (21) allowed, K/BB ratio (18/100), and WHIP. He held opposing batters to a .219 average, tossed his first-ever complete game shutout against Charleston Southern on April 16 with nine strikeouts and just four singles allowed, and became Upstate’s all-time wins leader on May 20. In conference action, Marks was 8-1 with a 2.21 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 81.1 innings. In the classroom, Marks owns a 3.924 GPA studying Logistics and Supply Chain Management, is a 4-time President’s List honoree and 8-time Dean’s List recipient.
Marks received eight first-place votes and 28 points in the Pitcher of the Year voting, ahead of Gardner-Webb starter
Mason Miller (two first-place votes and 18 points).
Chester earns his first Big South Coach of the Year honor after leading the Runnin’ Bulldogs to a 28-21 overall record as well as a third-place finish in the conference standings at 27-13 -- GWU’s highest regular-season finish since 2016. Gardner-Webb tied for the Big South lead with 63, and ranks second in slugging (.448), total bases (758), and batters struck out (402), as well as third in runs scored (303), hits (460), RBI (276) and doubles (83).
Haire is now a two-time Big South Coach of the Year recipient after leading the Camels to their third consecutive Big South regular-season championship. Campbell was first in the conference with a 28-9 record, and went 33-14 overall. The Camels enter this week’s Ingles Big South Baseball Championship as the league leader in batting (.309), slugging (.517), on-base average (.425), runs scored (417), RBI (375), doubles (110), triples (16), home runs (63), total bases (823), walks (230), stolen bases (90), sacrifice flies (35), and fewest hits allowed (381). Campbell carries a 10-game win streak into the conference tournament.
Chester (two first-place votes) and Haire (three first-place votes) each earned 15 points in the Coach of the Year voting, just ahead of Presbyterian’s
Elton Pollock (14 points, three first-place votes) and USC Upstate’s
Mike McGuire (14 points, two first-place votes).
Harrington becomes Campbell’s second consecutive Big South Freshman of the Year honoree and fourth overall. He owns the third-lowest earned run average in the conference (2.94) and third-lowest opponent batting average (.221) among qualified starters. Harrington allowed the second fewest runs among starting pitchers, and just four home runs on the year. He ranks seventh in the Big South with 67 strikeouts -- 24 looking, and the lowest ERA in the Big South among freshman starters. Harrington tossed a complete game 1-hitter at USC Upstate on May 15 with eight strikeouts and no walks. He also struck out 11 UNC Asheville batters and 10 Winthrop hitters during the season. He was honored as the Big South Freshman of the Week on May 3 and Starting Pitcher of the Week on May 17. Harrington posted a 5-1 record with 57 strikeouts in his 11 Big South starts. He received three first-place votes and 18 points in the voting, just ahead of Longwood’s
Eliot Dix (three first-place votes and 16 points).
The Conference also announced the 2021 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Tuesday afternoon, 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.
2021 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF Spencer Packard, R-Sr., Campbell
OF Connor Denning, R-Jr., Campbell
OF Cam Pearcey, Sr., Gardner-Webb
INF Zach Neto, R-Fr., Campbell
INF Brandon Lankford, Sr., UNC Asheville
INF Matt Christian, R-Sr., Campbell
INF Jason Matthews, Sr., USC Upstate
C Straton Podaras, Gr., Radford
UTL Dominic Freeberger, Jr., UNC Asheville
DH Patrick Ferguson, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SP Jordan Marks, Jr., USC Upstate
SP Mason Miller, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SP RJ Petit, Soph., Charleston Southern
RP Logan Heintzman, R-Sr., Campbell
RP Kevin Davis, Jr., USC Upstate
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF Joe Johnson, Gr., High Point
OF Julian Rip, Sr., USC Upstate
OF Jack Hennessy, Soph., USC Upstate
INF David Bryant, Jr., Radford
INF Eliot Dix, R-Fr., Longwood
INF Eric Jones, Sr., Gardner-Webb
INF Noah Rabon, Fr., USC Upstate
C Jake Wyandt, Sr., Presbyterian College
UTL Eric Toth, Jr., Presbyterian College
DH Devin Buckner, Jr., USC Upstate
SP Thomas Harrington, Fr., Campbell
SP Alex Garbrick, Jr., USC Upstate
SP Ryan Chasse, R-Soph., Campbell
RP Isaac Campbell, Sr., Gardner-Webb
RP Kevin Westlake, R-Sr., Campbell
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Cole Singsank, R-Fr., INF, High Point
Scout McFalls, Sr., OF, Winthrop
Collin Wolf, R-Sr., INF, Campbell
Grey Lyttle, Gr., SP, High Point
Zacchaeus Rasberry, R-Sr., OF, Presbyterian
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Grant Harris, OF, R-Sr., Campbell
Dylan Stewart, INF, Soph., Charleston Southern
Ben LaSpaluto, SS, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Grey Lyttle, P, Gr., High Point
Andrew Gorham, OF, R-Soph., Longwood
Jake Wyandt, C, Sr., Presbyterian
Anthony Galati, OF, Sr., Radford
Ethan Tressler, P, Sr., UNC Asheville
Jordan Marks, P, Jr., USC Upstate
Jason Crumley, P, Sr., Winthrop
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Zach Neto, R-Fr., Campbell
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Jordan Marks, Jr., USC Upstate
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Thomas Harrington, Fr., Campbell
CO-COACH OF THE YEAR
Jim Chester, Gardner-Webb
Justin Haire, Campbell
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Jordan Marks, Jr., USC Upstate