Conference Carolinas Shines in Summer Leagues
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Over 150 Conference Carolinas student-athletes took part in summer competition before returning to campus earlier this month.
On the diamond, 148 student-athletes took part in summer collegiate baseball leagues around the country and in Canada while eight student-athletes played soccer, two competed internationally in women’s lacrosse and one played in a summer basketball league.
In baseball, 16 players earned all-star honors, two competed in a home run derby, 20 were members of a league championship team and one, Trent Harris of UNC Pembroke, was named Pitcher of the Year.
Harris, who pitched for the Braves last season, earned the honor for the Wilson Tobs of the Coastal Plain League where he went 3-1 with a league-best 0.30 ERA. He allowed just two runs, one earned, over 29.2 innings with eight walks and 33 strikeouts. His efforts earned him a free agent contract with the San Francisco Giants.
Three Conference Carolinas student-athletes from North Greenville, Kaleb Hall, Caleb Freeman and Michael Rodriguez, earned invites to the prestigious Cape Cod League. Rodriguez, who went 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings, was then drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 2023 MLB June Amateur Draft.
A complete listing of all those who competed in collegiate baseball summer leagues is available here.
In women’s lacrosse, Hannah Legge of Mount Olive represented Wales in the U21 Women’s Lacrosse Championship where she scored three goals, dished out two assists, collected nine draw controls and caused six turnovers in five games. Another Trojan, Teagan Dunnett, competed for the Langley Thunder in the British Columbia Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League where she was the only woman in the men’s league. She scored once and had three assists.
Jaylin Stewart of Lees-McRae competed in The League and the Southeast ProAm Classic this summer. In The League he averaged 17 points and six assists per contest while he scored 26 points, grabbed five rounds and had three assists in the ProAm Classic.
Eight Bobcats also competed on the pitch this summer. Thomas McComb, Gray Smith and Fletcher Dyson competed for the Appalachian FC in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) while Ryan Aliam, Will Gakio and Kevan Wambugu competed for the Erie Commodores in the same league. Sean Green competed for Asheville City SC in the USL League Two and Greene Rand played for Wake FC in the USL Academy League.
Harri Lovett, the reigning Conference Carolinas Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Year from Chowan, and his teammates Dennis Bates, Chase Jensen, Harry Baker and Charley Leech also played in the NPSL this summer with Appalachian FC. Two other Hawks, Christopher Kelley and Brian Martinez played for the Greenville United in the NPSL while Dru Detlefsen played for Florida Elite, Dakota Reynolds and Zach Boyd played for Ashland Town FC and Ausar Omwenga and Abdoulie Sanneh played for Tobacco Road FC.
This story was compiled from submissions from the athletic communicators in Conference Carolinas. We will make additions to the story as received.