Conference Carolinas

2018 Conference Carolinas Baseball All-Conference and Major Awards Announced

4/26/2018 12:00:00 AM

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Belmont Abbey College's Luke Cureton has been named the 2018 Conference Carolinas Player of the Year, while North Greenville University's Tucker Burgess garnered Pitcher of the Year. Barton College's Colby Warren earned the Conference's Freshman of the Year and North Greenville point man Landon Powell won the Coach of the Year, the Conference announced today.

Cureton, a senior from Indianapolis, Ind., started all 46 games for Belmont Abbey hitting .370 with 10 home runs and an NCAA Division II-leading 24 doubles. He ranks second in the conference in runs scored (56), third in slugging (.694) and total bases (120), and fourth in hits (64) and RBI ( 51).

Burgess, a junior from Liberty, S.C., racked up a career-best and NCAA Division II and Conference Carolinas leading 13-1 regular season record. He is a perfect 7-0 against conference foes this season and led all North Greenville pitchers with a 3.08 ERA, which is good enough for third in the league. Burgess has punched out 65 batters this season and held opponents to a .263 batting average in 75 innings pitched.

Warren, a freshman from Roanoke Rapids, N.C., tied the Barton single-season record for home runs hit by a freshman, leading the Bulldogs in that category (12) along with runs batted in (31). He finished sixth with seven home runs hit in league play and fifth with a .388 batting average.

Powell earns Coach of the Year honors after leading a surging North Greenville team to its best regular season in program history. Under his tutelage, the Crusaders captured their first Conference Carolinas regular season title in the team’s seven-year history with the league, going 21-3 while finishing 39-6 overall.

 

All-Conference Carolinas First Team

1B - Drew Ellis, Mount Olive

2B - Matt McGarry, Belmont Abbey

SS - Colin Rosenbaum, Belmont Abbey

3B - Chase Allen, Limestone

C - Jose Lopez, Mount Olive

DH - Austin Mapes, Erskine

OF - Connor Grant, North Greenville

OF - Justin Carroll, Mount Olive

OF - Nick Beinlich, Belmont Abbey

OF - Luke Cureton, Belmont Abbey

SP - Tucker Burgess, North Greenville

SP - Brighton Hudson, Mount Olive

SP - German Reyes, Mount Olive

SP - Cameron Busby, Belmont Abbey

RP - Zach Vennaro, Mount Olive

UTL - Nate Estes, Mount Olive

 

All-Conference Carolinas Second Team

1B - Zach Piazza, Limestone

2B - Jared Williams, North Greenville

SS - Utah Jones, North Greenville

3B - Ryan Brown, North Greenville

C - John Jones, North Greenville

DH - Kevin Elefante, Belmont Abbey

OF - Jeffrey Chandler, North Greenville

OF - Trae Sweeting, Mount Olive

OF - Troy Malowski, Barton

OF - Matt Orth, Limestone

SP - Ethan Garner, North Greenville

SP - Michael Carpin, Erskine

SP - Robert Bamford, Limestone

SP - Octavio Mirabal, King

RP - Canaan Cropper, North Greenville

UTL - Andrew Plunkett, North Greenville

 

 

Regular Season Baseball Champion

North Greenville University

 

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Conference Carolinas is a NCAA Division II athletics conference made up of 11 teams from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. These institutions consist of: Barton College, Belmont Abbey College, Converse College, Emmanuel College, Erskine College, King University, Lees-McRae College, Limestone College, University of Mount Olive, North Greenville University, and Southern Wesleyan University. Emmanuel College is currently completing the NCAA DII membership process and will be fully competing in league championships in the near future.