MACON, Ga. – The Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Championship begins Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. at Dugan Field at Marsh Stadium on the campus of Lipscomb University.
FGCU enters the championship as the No. 1 seed after claiming it third consecutive A-Sun regular season title. The Eagles open the A-Sun Championship at 11:00 a.m. CT Wednesday against in-state rival Stetson. The Eagles feature one of the top pitchers in the country in left hander Chris Sale. Sale, a junior, enters the week leading the conference in wins, ERA and strikeouts. The Lakeland, Fla. native sits as the national leader in strikeouts and a candidate for several national awards including the National Pitcher of the Year and Golden Spikes Awards, given to nation’s top player. Sale sits eighth in the conference single season record books in strikeouts with 135, the most by an A-Sun pitcher since Justin Pope of UCF sat down 158 in 2001, while his ERA ranks T-13th best.
The Eagles own the conference’s top team ERA by nearly a half run, while boasting a balanced offense with all but one starter featuring a batting average over .300. Mikel Alvarez leads the Eagles in batting average with a .398 mark. Tim Roberson and Zach Maxfield provide the power in the FGCU lineup with the pair each having reached double figures in home runs and collecting at least 56 RBIs. The balance helped the Eagles finish seven and half games clear of the A-Sun field in the regular season standings.
While FGCU claimed the A-Sun regular season title two weeks ago, Stetson needed a win in the final game of the season in order to make the championship. After finishing a sweep of Lipscomb on April 25, the Hatters won just four games with three coming in A-Sun action. Ryan Lashley enters the A-Sun Championship as the team leader in home runs and RBIs. The Stetson trio of Jeff Simpson, Spencer Theisen and Mark Jones hold more stolen bases, 53, than the entire FGCU team.
Jacob DeGrom leads the A-Sun pitching staff with a 4.24 ERA on the season with a 4-5 record. DeGrom ended the season with a terrific performance going 9.2 innings against Jacksonville allowing just one earned run while striking out nine. Robbie Powell ranks as one of the top Hatters out of the bullpen boasting a 3.89 ERA in 28 appearances and holding 33 strikeouts.
In the second game of the Atlantic Sun Championship, No. 2 Mercer takes on No. 5 Jacksonville, who claimed the conference crown a season ago. Mercer enters the Championship as winners of eight of its last 10 games. The Bears’ only two losses in that span were one-run defeats. Mercer features a pair of power hitters in John Moreland and Jacob Tanis. Moreland and Tanis rank as the fifth set of A-Sun teammates to record 20 or more home runs in a single season. The Bear pair racked up 20 home runs apiece during the regular season with each picking up 50 or more RBIs. Tanis owns 83 RBIs entering the championship, which ranks as the third best single season total in conference history and the best since Stetson’s Frank Corr set the league record in 2000 with 98.
Matt McCall leads the Bears starting staff with a 4.95 ERA in 14 starts with 40 strikeouts in 63.2 innings pitched. Freshman David Teasley leads the Bears out of the bullpen with an ERA of 4.53 in 37 appearances with four saves. J.T. Odom sits second on the Mercer squad in appearances, with 32, while boasting a 3.72 ERA with five saves in 38.2 innings pitched.
Jacksonville’s season has been full of ups and downs headlined by wins against No. 7 Florida State and No. 15 Oklahoma. The Dolphins secured a place in the A-Sun Championship with two wins in the final weekend of the season. Freshman slugger Adam Brett Walker leads the Jacksonville offense with 15 home runs, 55 RBIs and slugging percentage with a .650 mark. Alex Martinez, the 2009 Championship MVP sits second on the Dolphins squad in RBIs (48) and third in runs (42).
In the final first round match up, No. 3 ETSU battles with No. 4 UNF. Paul Hoilman drives the ETSU offense and stands as one of the top offensive weapons in the country. The Bucs junior lead the conference in batting average, hits, runs scored and home runs. Hoilman also ranks No. 1 in the nation in slugging percentage and total bases. Combined, Hoilman and teammate Bo Reeder have smacked 43 home runs and 137 RBIs. The home run total for the Bucs pair of sluggers is just two less than Stetson’s team total and better than USC Upstate’s and Campbell’s.
On the mound, Bo Burton and Scott McNally, out of the Buccaneers’ bullpen, have combined to pick up 13 of ETSU’s 30 wins. Burton leads the squad with five saves owns the best opponent’s batting average, holding hitters to a .247 average.
Like FGCU, UNF advanced to its first A-Sun Championship. Under Dusty Rhodes, the Ospreys’ long-time head coach, they opened A-Sun play by winning nine of their first 12 games en route to finishing 14-12. Andrew Karmeris and Preston Hale hit enter the week sharing the team lead in hitting at .387. Justin Preckajlo clubbed a team-leading 14 home runs. When the Ospreys met the Buccaneers during regular-season play, UNF took out of three in Johnson City. Only a 20-19 loss in the Saturday wrap up prevented a sweep. In the three-game set, Karmeris and David Eldredge each collect 10 hits and hit .667. Michael Smith led the team with seven RBIs.
ASun.TV will carry the entirety A-Sun Baseball Championship as a free service to all fans. Visit ASun.TV for broadcast times.
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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.
This story was taken from AtlanticSun.org.