Baseball Lands Three on All-Conference List: Merrill Earns First Team

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Mars Hill baseball team has placed three members on the 2017 South Atlantic Conference All-Conference Team as announced by the league today. Senior second baseman Hunter Merrill garnered a first team selection and the stolen base statistical champion (0.65), while sophomore outfielder Brett Brubaker found himself on the second team. Junior starting pitcher Zac Brown was named as an honorable mention while also receiving a Gold Glove at his position. As a team the Lions also were tabbed statistical champions with 1.69 total stolen bases per game.

Merrill leads the Lions' offense, hitting .409, which is second in the conference in that category. His 27 stolen bases are tops in the league, while he is second in on-base percentage (.509) and fourth in triples (4). Merrill is second on the team in runs scored (47) as well.

Brubaker follows with a .341 average. A true power hitter for the Lions, Brubaker is third in the SAC in homeruns (13) and RBI (54); and sixth in doubles (16). Brubaker leads MHU with a .671 slugging percentage.

Pitching has been key in the Lions' success as they have a team earned run average of 4.18, which is tops in the SAC. Brown led the Lions in wins on the mound with a 6-3 record and an earned run average of 3.51. He has thrown 77 innings with 75 strikeouts.

2017 SAC Baseball All-Conference

All-SAC First Team

OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba

OF – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial

OF – Daymon Totherow, Newberry

1B – Timmy Wages, Lincoln Memorial

2B – Hunter Merrill, Mars Hill

SS – Tyler Adams, Lincoln Memorial

3B – John Topoleski, Tusculum

C – Zach Almond, Catawba

DH – Ben Herring, Newberry

SP – Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne

SP – Zack Kelly, Newberry

SP – Ethan Carpenter, Tusculum

RP – Bryan Blanton, Catawba

All-SAC Second Team

OF – Ryan Addington, Carson-Newman

OF – Brett Brubaker, Mars Hill

OF – William Thomas, Anderson

1B – Nick Lacina, Tusculum

2B – Kyle Smith, Catawba

SS – Jeremy Simpson, Catawba

3B – Eric Kalman, Lincoln Memorial

C – Greg Jones, Carson-Newman

DH – Nick Coble, Catawba

SP – Hunter Shepherd, Catawba

SP –Tim Hardy, Tusculum

SP – Brandon Jean, Lincoln Memorial
RP – Griffin Hollifield, Coker

Honorable Mentions

OF – Mason Ewers, Lincoln Memorial

OF – Malachi Hanes, Catawba

OF – Jeremy Glore, Tusculum

1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba

2B – Daulton Martin, Tusculum

SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson

3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman

C – Russell Clark, Lincoln Memorial

DH – Bradley Brown, Wingate

SP – Forrest Arnold, Coker

SP – Zac Brown, Mars Hill

SP – Evan Estridge, Newberry

RP – Dominic Morabito, Lincoln Memorial

Gold Glove

RF – Daymon Totherow, Newberry

CF – Danton Hyman, Newberry

LF – Marcus Shoemaker, Lenoir-Rhyne

1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba

2B – Cody Ezzell, Newberry

SS – Jeremy Simpson, Catawba

3B – John Topoleski, Tusculum

C – Jeff Sneed, Newberry

P – Zac Brown, Mars Hill

Player of the Year

Luke Setzer, Catawba

Pitcher of the Year

Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne

Freshman of the Year

Hunter Shepherd, Catawba

Co-Coach of the Year

Jim Gantt, Catawba
Jeff Sziksai, Lincoln Memorial­

Statistical Champions

Team Batting Average – Catawba (.334)

Team Slugging Percentage – Catawba (.559)

Team On-Base Percentage – Lincoln Memorial (.415)

Team Doubles Per Game – Catawba (2.45)

Team Triples Per Game – Lenoir-Rhyne (0.41)

Team Home Runs Per Game – Catawba (1.64)

Team RBIs Per Game – Tusuclum (7.11)

Team Stolen Bases Per Game – Mars Hill (1.69)

Team Earned Run Average – Tusculum (4.32)

Team Strikeouts Per Game – Lenoir-Rhyne (10.6)

Batting Average – Luke Setzer, Catawba (.425)

On-Base Percentage – Timmy Wages, Lincoln Memorial (.516)

Slugging Percentage – Zach Almond, Catawba (.736)

Home Runs Per Game – Zach Almond, Catawba (0.34)

RBIs Per Game – Zach Almond, Catawba (1.27)

Runs Scored Per Game – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial (1.40)

Doubles Per Game – Zach Almond, Catawba (0.44)

Triples Per Game – Justin Dean, Lenoir-Rhyne (0.14)

Stolen Bases Per Game – Hunter Merrill, Mars Hill (0.65)

Earned Run Average – Griffin Hollifield, Coker (1.50)

Strikeouts Per Nine Innings – Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne (13.38)

Pitching Victories – Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne (9)