Conference Carolinas All-Conference Teams Announced For Baseball; Mount Olive Sweeps Individual Awards
High Point, N.C. > The Conference Carolinas All-Conference baseball teams were
determined by vote from each head coach of participating league institutions.
Nominations are collected and then voted upon by ballot and tallied to determine
Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year,
All-Conference First Team, and All-Conference Second Team. Awards were
presented at the Conference Tournament Championships hosted by The City of
Burlington and The Burlington Royals at the Burlington Athletic Stadium in Burlington, NC
at this weekend's conference championship. This year's award winners are as follows:
Freshman of the Year:
Zak Orrison, Mount Olive
Zak Orrison is batting .346 with nine doubles, two home runs and 43 runs batted
in while batting in the No. nine spot for most of the season. He has 19 stolen bases
in 24 attempts to help Mount Olive rank among the top five in the nation in stolen bases.
Orrison is the Trojans' first baseball Freshman of the Year since current assistant coach
Jesse Lancaster in 2006.
Coach of the Year:
Carl Lancaster – Mount Olive College
Carl Lancaster becomes Conference Carolinas Baseball Coach of the Year for the third
year in a row and the 11th time in his career. He guided the Trojans to a 43-4 regular
season record and a No. 1 ranking in the Collegiate Baseball Division II Top 30 Poll.
Earlier this season, he recorded his 900th career victory.
Pitcher of the Year:
Matt Dillon – Mount Olive College
Matt Dillon has been selected as Conference Carolinas Baseball Pitcher of the Year
for the second straight year. He has a 9-1 record with a 1.81 earned run average and
84 strikeouts this season.
Player of the Year:
Mike Mercurio – Mount Olive
Mike Mercurio is batting .373 with 18 doubles and seven home runs to go with
12 stolen bases in 13 attempts. Mercurio, who missed playing time early in the
season due to an injury, finished the regular season on a tear, batting .524 with
21 rbi's in his last 11 games. He homered in each game of Mount Olive's three-game
conference series at Pfeiffer to end the regular season.
Conference Carolinas Regular Season Champions
Mount Olive College
All-Conference First Team:
Fico Kondla, Coker – 1B
Allen Staton, North Greenville – 2B
Mike Mercurio, Mount Olive– SS
Jermaine Berry, Mount Olive – 3B
Geno Escalante, Mount Olive – C
Bradon Reitano, Mount Olive – DH
Chase Corn, Erskine – OF
Adam Taylor, North Greenville – OF
Jon Gray, Pfeiffer– OF
Chad Balderman, Limestone – OF
Andrew Goot, Coker– Relief Pitcher
Matt Dillon, Mount Olive – P
Alex Regan, Mount Olive– P
Nate Cudney, Belmont Abbey – P
Heath Gray, Erskine– P
Drew Willingham, Erskine – Utility
All-Conference Second Team:
Collins Cuthrell, Barton – 1B
KJ McAllister, Limestone – 2B
Ian Vazquez, Belmont Abbey– SS
Steven Todoschuk, King – 3B
Josh Huffman, King – C
Michael Falsetti, Belmont Abbey – DH
Garrett Cook, King – OF
Bryan Dunlavey, Mount Olive – OF
Tyler Gaby, King – OF
Anthony Dimino, Belmont Abbey – OF
Zach Loraine, Coker – Relief Pitcher
Dan Meyer, Coker – P
Corey Rhodes, King– P
Cody Stull, Belmont Abbey– P
Tyler Witzel, Coker – P
Matt Petrone, Mount Olive – Utility