Big South Announces 2024 Baseball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Presbyterian College outfielder
Joel Dragoo (Beckville, Texas) and teammate hurler
Daniel Eagen (Fuquay-Varina, N.C.) have been voted the 2024 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, Charleston Southern outfielder
Cade Conway (Blossom, Texas) was tabbed Newcomer of the Year, USC Upstate infielder
Vance Sheahan (Lake Worth, Fla.) was selected Big South Freshman of the Year, and PC head coach
Elton Pollock was voted Coach of the Year. High Point’s
Adam Stuart (Raleigh, N.C.) was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors for the second consecutive season.
Dragoo is the first Blue Hose player to be voted Big South Player of the Year. He started all 54 regular-season games -- reaching base safely in every contest -- and finished as the conference’s top hitter with a .413 batting average -- the lone Big South player above .400 and tied for ninth in the nation. Dragoo was also tops in the league with his .810 slugging percentage, .518 on-base average, and seven sacrifice flies. He tallied 20 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs, 65 RBI, 153 total bases and 57 runs scored. He was second among the leaders in hits (78), walks (42), doubles and RBI, and set Presbyterian’s Division I single-season records for homers and runs batted in. Dragoo batted .398 in conference games with 10 doubles, six home runs and a .739 slugging clip, and was a four-time Big South Player of the Week honoree. He tallied 22 multi-hit games, including seven games with at least three base hits, posted 18 multi-RBI games, featuring five efforts with at least four, and had a 22-game hitting streak during the campaign. Dragoo received four first-place votes and 18 points in Big South Player of the Year balloting, ahead of High Point’s
Cael Chatham (two first-place votes and 13 points), and USC Upstate’s
Koby Kropf (two first-place votes and 10 points).
Eagen is PC’s first-ever Big South Pitcher of the Year honoree, and was a unanimous selection as he received all nine first-place votes and the maximum 27 points. He concluded the regular-season as the Big South leader in strikeouts (PC single-season record 112), earned run average (2.55) and batting average allowed (.172). Eagen, who ranks in the Top 10 nationally in strikeouts as well as the Top 15 in ERA, went 6-1 overall with a 0.98 WHIP in 70.2 inning pitched, and permitted just 43 hits in his 13 appearances. A six-time Big South Starting Pitcher of the Week honoree in 2024, Eagen recorded a 14.26 strikeouts per 9 innings ratio and fanned at least 10 batters three times -- including a PC single-game record and career-high 14 punchouts in PC’s 4-2 victory over Radford on April 5. In league games this season, he pitched 47.1 innings and ranked first in strikeouts per game (13.69), strikeouts (72), and batting average against (.160), while tying for the most wins with his 5-1 record. His 2.66 ERA against league foes was second-best.
Conway is the first Big South Baseball Newcomer of the Year, which recognizes the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. He led the conference in batting average and on-base percentage during league play with numbers of .416 and .519, respectively. Conway batted .372 overall, which ranked second in the Big South, while recording a .449 on-base average -- both Top 15 all-time in a single-season in program history. He was also second in the league with 25 steals (third-most in a season in CSU annals), had 21 multi-hit games (12 in conference play), and had five 4-hit games. He was named the Big South Player of the Week on Feb. 27 after hitting .750 (12-16) and stealing five bases. Conway collected seven first-place votes and 25 points in Newcomer of the Year voting, ahead of Longwood’s
Noah Campanelli (one first-place vote and 13 points) and High Point’s
Matt Little (one first-place vote and 12 points).
Sheahan is Upstate’s second Big South Freshman of the Year honoree in three seasons. He leads all Big South freshmen in hits (55) and games played (51), and tops all qualified league frosh in batting average (.325) and on-base percentage (.410). Sheahan holds the longest reached base streak by a Big South freshman at 29 games, and ranks second among the conference freshmen in total bases (65), RBI (27) and doubles (7). He carries his second 9-game hit streak into this week’s conference tournament, notched 14 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI contests, and was recognized as the Big South Freshman of the Week twice. Sheahan received six first-place votes and 23 points in Freshman of the Year polling, ahead of Winthrop’s
Jaylen Hernandez (two first-place votes) and Radford’s
Breckin Nace (one), who tied with 10 points each.
Pollock earns his first Big South Coach of the Year award after leading the Blue Hose to the program’s first-ever Big South regular-season championship. PC won the outright title with its 18-6 record and won seven of the eight conference series -- including four 3-0 sweeps. Presbyterian stands 29-25 overall and closed the regular-season with a 10-4 mark. The Blue Hose enter this week’s Big South Baseball Championship as the league leader in ERA (5.31), opponent batting average (.264), strikeouts (504), strikeouts per 9 innings (9.69) and fewest walks per 9 innings (4.10). PC scored 10+ runs in a game 13 times, which included a season-high 20. Presbyterian batted .290 and recorded a 4.72 earned run average and 217 strikeouts during the 24-game Big South season, and tied the program record with its 18 league victories. Pollock received eight first-place votes and 25 points in the Coach of the Year voting, ahead of High Point’s
Joey Hammond (18 points and the remaining first-place vote).
Stuart is a 3.94 graduate student working on his MBA. A 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selection, Stuart ranks in the Big South Top 10 this season in at-bats (223), RBI (46), doubles (15), triples (2) and sacrifice flies (6).
The Conference also announced the 2024 All-Conference, All-Freshman and All-Academic teams on Wednesday morning, which are listed below. The All-Conference and All-Freshman 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.
2024 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Joel Dragoo, Jr., Presbyterian College
OF - Robbie Burnett, Jr., UNC Asheville
OF - Cade Conway, Sr., Charleston Southern
INF - Cael Chatham, Gr., High Point
INF - Grant Sherrod, Sr., USC Upstate
INF - Brody Fahr, Sr., Presbyterian College
INF - Alec Burns, Sr., Gardner-Webb
C - Eric Grintz, Gr., High Point
UTL - Noah Sullivan, R-Soph., USC Upstate
DH - Peyton Carr, R-Jr., High Point
SP - Daniel Eagen, Jr., Presbyterian College
SP - Gus Hughes, Sr., High Point
SP - Charlie McDaniel, Sr., Presbyterian College
RP - Connor Maggi, Jr., Gardner-Webb
RP - Evan Truitt, Jr., Charleston Southern
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Koby Kropf, Jr., USC Upstate
OF - Jace Rinehart, Jr., USC Upstate
OF - Cameron Pittman, Jr., Radford
INF - Troy Hamilton, Sr., USC Upstate
INF - Chandler Tuupo, Soph., Charleston Southern
INF - Noah Campanelli, Gr., Longwood
INF - Ty Kaufman, Sr., UNC Asheville
C - Jackson Hugus, Jr., Presbyterian College
UTL - Zack Whitacre, Gr., Radford
DH - Jake Randolph, Soph., Presbyterian College
SP - Riley Huge, Sr., Winthrop
SP - Noah Sullivan, R-Soph., USC Upstate
SP - Henry Proger, Sr., USC Upstate
RP - Cael Chatham, Gr., High Point
RP - Parker Kruglewicz, Sr., Winthrop
RP - Drew Stanley, Jr., Radford
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Adam Stuart, INF, Gr., High Point
Hayden Harris, INF, Sr., Longwood
Conner Butler, INF, Gr., Radford
Matt Little, SP, Gr., High Point
Colby Guy, SP, Jr., UNC Asheville
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Vance Sheahan, INF, USC Upstate
Jaylen Hernandez, INF, Winthrop
Cooper Ellingworth, P, USC Upstate
Owen Sarna, P, Winthrop
Blagen Pado, OF, Longwood
Breckin Nace, UTL, Radford
Darin Kuskie, P, USC Upstate
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Sam Massey, P, Sr., Charleston Southern
Alec Burns, INF, Gr., Gardner-Webb
Adam Stuart, SS, Gr., High Point
Dominick D’Ercole, P, Gr., Longwood
Charlie McDaniel, P, Sr., Presbyterian
Zack Whitacre, INF/OF, Gr., Radford
Cole Schiff, P, Jr., UNC Asheville
Henry Proger, P, Sr., USC Upstate
Parker Whittle, P, Sr., Winthrop
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Joel Dragoo, OF, Jr., Presbyterian College
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Daniel Eagen, Jr., Presbyterian College
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Cade Conway, OF, Sr., Charleston Southern
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Vance Sheahan, INF, USC Upstate
COACH OF THE YEAR
Elton Pollock, Presbyterian College
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Adam Stuart, SS, Gr., High Point
