Big South Announces 2026 Baseball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point catcher
Seojun Oh (Anyang, South Korea) and Panthers’ hurler
Ty Brachbill (Shelbyville, Ill.) have been voted the 2026 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, Oh was tabbed Newcomer of the Year, Presbyterian College infielder
Bo Moody (Georgetown, S.C.) was selected Big South Freshman of the Year, and High Point head coach
Joey Hammond was voted Coach of the Year. HPU’s
Jake McCarter (West Chester, Pa.) was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s baseball communications contacts.
Oh is the second consecutive Panther to be voted Big South Player of the Year and fifth overall. In addition, he is the first catcher to win the league’s top postseason award since 2008, and is the first-ever to win both Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors in the same season. The Newcomer of the Year award was added in 2024 to recognize the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. Oh just missed winning the Big South’s regular-season Triple Crown by a few percentage points on his batting average, as he is the conference leader with 17 home runs and 56 RBI, while ranking second in hitting with a .361 clip. He ranks first in the Big South with a 1.161 OPS and .702 slugging percentage, and started all of his 53 appearances. Oh finished the regular-season with 47 runs scored, 14 doubles and a .459 on-base average, and tallied a team-high 22 multi-hit games plus 17 multi-RBI performances. He was named to the NCAA National Lineup of the Week on March 30, as well as Baseball America’s National Team of the Week and Big South Player of the Week. In 23 Big South games this season, Oh finished as the Triple Crown winner with his .432 batting average, 13 home runs and 36 runs batted in while recording a 1.487 OPS and .955 slugging mark.
Brachbill is High Point’s first-ever Big South Pitcher of the Year honoree. He concluded the regular-season tied for the national lead with 11 victories (11-2 overall), becoming the league’s first 10-game winner since 2023, while his 11 wins are the most in the Big South since 2022. He is the Big South leader in innings pitched (88.1) and tied for the top spot in complete games (3) and shutouts (1). Brachbill’s 79 strikeouts and 3.46 earned run average rank second in the league among qualifying starting pitchers. He became the program’s first single-season 10-game winner in the Division I era on May 2, and fanned a career-high 11 batters vs. VMI on April 26. Brachbill worked at least six innings in nine of his 14 starts, owns a 1.18 WHIP, and earned a 6-2 victory at then-No. 9 Florida on March 7 with 6.2 innings, four strikeouts and four hits allowed. He struck out at least seven batters on five occasions, allowed four hits or less in six of his starts -- including just two in eight innings against Longwood on May 2, and was awarded two Big South Conference Starting Pitcher of the Week plaudits, as well as earning the nod on D1 Baseball’s weekly Top 100 Pitchers list two separate times. Brachbill went 5-2 in eight Big South starts with a 3.60 ERA plus 39 strikeouts in 50.0 innings, while holding batters to a .259 clip.
Moody is Presbyterian’s first Big South Freshman of the Year honoree since 2011 (Brad Zebedis) and second overall. Moody led PC in stolen bases (14), runs scored (39) and walks (23), and was second on the squad with 55 hits, a .304 batting average and .424 on-base percentage. He tied for sixth in the Big South with his two triples, and was named Big South Freshman of the Week twice in 2026. Moody was also named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, honoring the nation's top shortstop -- one of just two Big South players and one of two freshmen in the country to be recognized. In Big South play, Moody played all 24 games and hit .330 (29-88) with a team-high 21 runs scored along with seven stolen bases.
Hammond was voted Big South Coach of the Year after leading the Panthers to the program’s first-ever Big South regular-season championship. HPU won the outright title with its 17-7 record and won six of the eight conference series -- including three 3-0 sweeps. The Panthers stand 36-18 overall -- the program’s third consecutive 35-win season, and reeled off 11-straight wins from March 15-April 3. High Point never lost more than two consecutive games during the regular-season, won two-of-three games at then-No. 9 Florida, and collected wins over notable programs Duke, Wake Forest, College of Charleston (two) and UNC Wilmington. High Point enters this week’s Big South Baseball Championship as the league leader in ERA (4.41), saves (21), opponent batting average (.243) and fewest hits allowed (433). HPU scored 10+ runs in a game 15 times, and hit .294 as a team with 70 home runs, 370 runs scored and a .489 slugging percentage. In Conference games, High Point was tops in the circuit with a .327 batting average, 43 homers and .563 slugging clip while ranking second with a 4.81 ERA.
McCarter is a 3.98 student majoring in Finance. He started 53 games for the Panthers and belted 15 home runs with 51 runs batted in addition to a .528 slugging percentage. The leftfielder owns a .988 fielding percentage as he made 84 putouts with only one error during the season.
The Conference also announced the 2026 All-Conference, All-Freshman and All-Academic teams on Tuesday, 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 baseball communications contacts.
2026 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF – Kelvin Agosto, Gardner-Webb
OF – Jaylen Hernandez, Winthrop
OF – Blaize Johnson, UNC Asheville
OF – Kain Collins, Charleston Southern
INF – Landen Johnson, High Point
INF – Blake Edgmon, Charleston Southern
INF – Nathan Martinez, Charleston Southern
INF – Frank Kelly, High Point
C – Seojun Oh, High Point
UTL – Alex Marot, Charleston Southern
DH – Corey Wouters, Winthrop
SP – Ty Brachbill, High Point
SP – Jaxon Lloyd, Longwood
SP – Brayden Gilley, Winthrop
RP – JR Fordham, Longwood
RP – Trey Ludy, Radford
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF – Henry Zenor, USC Upstate
OF – Lane Allen, High Point
OF – Jake McCarter, High Point
INF – Willie Ponce, High Point
INF – Junho Son, Radford
INF – Bo Moody, Presbyterian
INF – Matthew Rollison, Presbyterian
C – Tyler Lang, USC Upstate
UTL – Merik Carter, Gardner-Webb
DH – Johnny Sweeney, USC Upstate
SP – Tyrell Williams, Presbyterian
SP – Raymond Ladd, Radford
SP – Matt Gallant, Charleston Southern
RP – Harrison Wilson, Winthrop
RP – Dylan Story, High Point
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Breckin Nace, INF, Radford
Lucas Pringle, C, Charleston Southern
Alan Benhardt, INF, Winthrop
Wylie Waters, INF, USC Upstate
Tyler Shafer, RP, High Point
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Bo Moody, INF, Presbyterian
Caden Wolfley, OF, Charleston Southern
Ben Pulliam, OF, Longwood
Colby Putnam, P, Gardner-Webb
Brady Hoover, P, Longwood
Trey Bentley, OF, USC Upstate
Ben Green, UTL, UNC Asheville
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Lucas Pringle, Charleston Southern
Kelvin Agosto, Gardner-Webb
Jake McCarter, High Point
Tré Keels, Longwood
Amman Dewberry, Presbyterian
Brady Whitacre, Radford
Lucas Boesen, UNC Asheville
Tyler Lang, USC Upstate
Alan Benhardt, Winthrop
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Seojun Oh, C, High Point
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Ty Brachbill, High Point
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Seojun Oh, C, High Point
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Bo Moody, INF, Presbyterian
COACH OF THE YEAR
Joey Hammond, High Point
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Jake McCarter, High Point