Four Liberty Flames have been named to the 2018 Big South All-Conference team, as the Big South Conference announced its baseball awards and all-conference team, this morning.
As selected by the conference's head coaches, outfielder D.J. Artis and utility player Tre Todd were selected to the Big South All-Conference first team, while third baseman Tyler Galazin and starting pitcher Garret Price received all-conference honorable mention honors. Pitcher Zach Clinton was named to the Big South All-Academic team.
For the third straight year, Artis earned all-conference first team honors. The junior leads the Big South Conference with 59 runs scored, a single-season career high, and doubles with 15. He also ranks second in the conference in stolen bases (25) and walks (47) and third in on base percentage (.466) and triples (5).
The 2017 Big South Player of the Year and 2016 Big South Freshman of the Year, Artis enters today's 2018 Big South Baseball Championship at Liberty Baseball Stadium with a .303 batting average and four home runs. He also finished the conference's regular season with 16 multi-hit games. In six of the contests, he had three or more hits.
The Greensboro, N.C., native is one of only three players in Liberty history with over 200 hits, 165 runs scored and 65 stolen bases during his career. He enters the week tied for second in program history with 171 career runs scored, eight shy of tying Pat Sipe (1983-86), who scored 179 during his career. In addition, the junior is one stolen base shy of tying Larry Wayne York (2000-03) for second all-time with 72 steals. The junior already holds the program record with 116 career walks.
Currently, Artis has reached base in 66 straight games. The streak is the longest active streak in the nation. The last time the junior failed to reach base in a contest came on May 2, 2017 at Virginia.
In his first season at Liberty, Todd has started every Liberty contest this season in either left field or at catcher. Todd begins the week as the national leader in walks with 59. He also leads the Big South Conference with a .492 on base percentage and a .578 slugging percentage.
The junior has hit .326 with 52 RBI and 42 runs scored with 11 doubles, four triples and 10 home runs. He is among the conference leaders in batting average (seventh), runs scored (ninth), triples (tied for seventh) and home runs (fourth). The utility man was named the Big South Player of the Week for April 16.
The Deptford, N.J., native leads the Flames with 18 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI contests. He has driven three or more runs in seven games, this season.
Galazin joins Todd as a first-year Flame earning all-conference honors. In 51 games, the junior third baseman has hit .284 with 36 RBI and 27 runs scored so far in 2018. He has nine doubles, one triple and three home runs. The Langhorne, Pa., native has collected 12 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI contests.
Meanwhile, Price enters the week with a 6-4 record with four saves and a 4.34 ERA over 58 innings. Six of his 21 appearances have been starts. The sophomore right-hander has struck out 73 and walked 21.
Price is tied for second in overall wins and fourth in overall strikeouts. He was named Big South Pitcher of the Week for April 9.
High Point outfielder Austen Zente was selected the Big South Player of the Year. Meanwhile, Campbell took three major awards as right-hander Allan Winans was voted the Big South Pitcher of the Year, Head Coach Justin Haire was named Coach of the Year and pitcher Logan Bender was selected Freshman of the Year. Charleston Southern outfielder Josh Litchfield was chosen the Big South Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The No. 3 seed Liberty Flames will square off with the No. 6 seed Raford Highlander, Tuesday in Game 2 of the Big South Baseball Championship at Liberty Baseball Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for approximately 45 minutes after Game 1 between No. 2 seed High Point and No. 7 seed Charleston Southern, which begins at 9:30 a.m.
2018 Big South Conference Baseball Awards
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE OF Austen Zente, Sr., High Point OF Matthew Barefoot, R-Soph., Campbell OF D.J. Artis, Jr., Liberty INF Mitch Spires, Sr., Winthrop INF Hunter Lee, Sr., High Point INF Jonathan White, Jr., Presbyterian INF Corey Howard, Jr., Gardner-Webb C Daniel Millwee, Jr., High Point UTL Tre Todd, Jr., Liberty DH Jeff Hahs, Sr., Campbell SP Allan Winans, R-Sr., Campbell SP Austin Ross, R-Sr., Radford SP Andrew Gottfried, Jr., High Point RP Rion Murrah, Sr., High Point RP Logan Bender, Fr., Campbell
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE OF A.J. Priaulx, Sr., Presbyterian OF Chris Clary, Jr., Gardner-Webb OF Mickey Dugan, Sr., Gardner-Webb INF Christian Jones, Sr., Campbell INF Spencer Horwitz, Soph., Radford INF Tyler Halstead, Sr., Winthrop INF Travis Holt, Fr., High Point C Christian Maggio, Fr., Charleston Southern UTL Mike Sconzo, Sr., Charleston Southern DH Chandler Redmond, Jr., Gardner-Webb SP Bradley Hallman, Sr., Gardner-Webb SP Nate Pawelczyk, Jr., Winthrop SP Michael Horrell, Jr., Campbell RP Tyson Messer, Jr., Campbell RP Ryan Hedrick, Sr., Presbyterian
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE Zach Peek, Soph., SP, Winthrop Mason Fox, Jr., OF, Gardner-Webb Tyler Galazin, Jr., INF, Liberty Sammy Miller, Sr., OF, Longwood Garret Price, Soph., SP, Liberty
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM Kyle Mehl, Sr., INF, Campbell Josh Litchfield, Jr., OF, Charleston Southern Eric Jones, Jr., 3B, Gardner-Webb Andrew Gottfried, Jr., RHP, High Point Zach Clinton, Jr., P Liberty Zach Potojecki, Sr., RHP, Longwood AJ Priaulx, Sr., LF, Presbyterian College Kyle Palmer, R-Sr., LHP, Radford Jesse Juday, Sr., RHP, UNC Asheville Hunter Lipscomb, Jr., OF, Winthrop
PLAYER OF THE YEAR Austen Zente, OF, Sr., High Point
PITCHER OF THE YEAR Allan Winans, RHP, R-Sr., Campbell
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Logan Bender, RP, Fr., Campbell
COACH OF THE YEAR Justin Haire, Campbell
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Josh Litchfield, Jr., OF, Charleston Southern
Like Us on Facebook
Follow Us on Twitter
Follow Us on Instagram