Belviso, Pate Named All-Conference
April 19, 2012ROCK HILL, S.C. – Mars Hill baseball team members Coty Pate and Joey Belviso were named to All-SAC teams, which were announced Wednesday.
Belviso was named to the All-SAC First Team as an outfielder, while Pate made the All-SAC Second Team at first base. Belviso batted .404 with nine home runs and 51 RBI's on the season while playing right field for the Lions. The junior totalled a team-best 76 hits, and slugged .638.
Pate led Mars Hill in batting average at a .413 clip, and also led the team with a .778 slugging percentage. Pate also slugged a team-best 14 home runs and drove in 52 runs. Thirty-one of the senior's 69 hits went for extra bases.
Carson-Newman first baseman Kyle Koeneman hit .393 with 34 extra-base hits in a standout regular season, and was named the 2012 SAC Baseball Player of the Year, headlining the league’s award winners.
Koeneman – also a member of the All-SAC First Team – led the conference with an on-base percentage of .544 and a slugging percentage of .893. He also finished second in home runs with 18, second in walks with 44 and sixth in doubles with 16.
Behind Koeneman, Carson-Newman went 24-23 during the regular season and earned the No. 5 seed in the 2012 Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship.
On the mound, the No. 1 starters from the conference’s top two teams during the 2012 season – Tusculum and Catawba -- were rewarded by being named co-SAC Pitchers of the Year. Catawba’s JJ Jankowski, who leads the nation in strikeouts with 114, and Tusculum’s Craig Goodman, who leads the SAC with a 1.93 ERA, earned the accolades after going a combined 18-1 in the regular season.
Goodman allowed just 57 hits in 70 innings en route to compiling a 9-0 record during the regular season, while Jankowski went 9-1 – largely due to a 5.18 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
In addition to Koeneman, the All-SAC First Team infield was made up of Lincoln Memorial second baseman Andrew Rodriguez, LMU shortstop Joe Horsley and Tusculum third baseman Cade Stallings.
Stallings hit 10 home runs during the regular season and finished fourth in the SAC with 53 RBI, Rodriguez finished third in the league with a .414 batting average, and Horsley was third in the conference with 20 stolen bases.
The All-SAC First Team features a powerful outfield of Wingate’s Casey Allison, Mars Hill’s Joey Belviso and Catawba’s Ethan Satterfield. Allison currently leads the nation with 20 home runs and is second with 63 RBI, Belviso is second in the nation with 76 hits and seventh in the SAC with 51 RBI, and Satterfield is second in the league with a .422 batting average.
Anderson catcher Brett Scarberry made the First Team after hitting .368 during the regular season, while first-team designated hitter Garrett Furr has driven home 47 runs for Catawba.
The All-SAC First Team was rounded out by Newberry starting pitcher Josh McElwee, who boasts the SAC’s second-best ERA at 3.03 at second-highest strikeout total at 88, and reliever John-Austin Shepard, who saved a league-leading seven games for Tusculum during the regular season.
The All-Conference Second Team was led by Brevard second baseman Chad Funkhouser, who was also named the SAC Freshman of the Year. Funkhouser closed the regular season with a .346 batting average and a .425 OBP for the Tornados.
Joining Funkhouser on the All-SAC Second Team infield were Tusculum catcher Cody Coffman, Mars Hill first baseman Coty Pate, Catawba shortstop Brett Underwood and Wingate third baseman Jacob Karr.
Brevard’s Champ Stuart, Tusculum’s Alexi Colon and Wingate’s Dodson McPherson comprised the All-Conference Second Team outfield, while Tusculum’s Carlos Santana was named the team’s DH.
Starters Nick Lomascolo of Catawba, Taylor Rakes of Tusculum and Robby Thigpen of Carson-Newman joined Catawba reliever Nate King on the Second Team pitching staff.
Finally, after leading his team to a SAC regular-season championship and record 24 conference victories, Tusculum’s Doug Jones was named the league’s Coach of the Year.
The Pioneers, ranked third in this week’s NCBWA national poll, are the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship.
SAC Player of the Year: Kyle Koeneman, C-N
Co-SAC Pitcher of the Year: Craig Goodman, TC
Co-SAC Pitcher of the Year: JJ Jankowski, CAT
SAC Freshman of the Year: Chad Funkhouser, BC
SAC Coach of the Year: Doug Jones, TC
2012 All-SAC Team
First Team
C - Brett Scarberry, AU
1B - Kyle Koeneman, C-N
2B - Andre Rodriguez, LMU
SS - Joe Horsley, LMU
3B - Cade Stallings, TC
OF - Casey Allison, WU
OF - Joey Belviso, MHC
OF - Ethan Satterfield, CAT
DH - Garrett Furr, CAT
SP - Craig Goodman, TC
SP - JJ Jankowski, CAT
SP - Josh McElwee, NEW
RP - John-Austin Shepard, TC
Second Team
C - Cody Coffman, TC
1B - Coty Pate, MHC
2B - Chad Funkhouser, BC
SS - Brett Underwood, CAT
3B - Jacob Karr, WU
OF - Champ Stuart, BC
OF - Alexi Colon, TC
OF - Dodson McPherson, WU
DH - Carlos Santana, TC
SP - Nick Lomascolo, CAT
SP - Taylor Rakes, TC
SP - Robby Thigpen, C-N
RP - Nate King, CAT
2012 SAC Gold Glove Team
C - Christian Christopoulos, BC
C - Greg Lawson, CAT
1B - Tarron Robinson, BC
2B - Julio Zubillaga, CAT
SS - Brett Underwood, CAT
3B - Blake May, AU
OF - Ryan Bostian, CAT
OF - Kevin Rufus, NEW
OF - Cody Baker, LMU
OF - Aaron Guinn, TC
P - Robby Thigpen, C-N
