GREENVILLE, S.C. – With the baseball season about to start numerous Conference Carolinas baseball players garnered preseason honors with five teams being mentioned in preseason national rankings and seven individuals being named to at least one preseason All-America team.

Belmont Abbey College, Francis Marion University, North Greenville University and Young Harris College all had individuals garner preseason awards as well as national rankings. The league had eight individuals earn preseason all-southeast region honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

Caleb Burr of Belmont Abbey and Matty Brown of North Greenville earned first team preseason All-America honors from D2 Baseball while Charlie Bussey III of Francis Marion, Kade Smallwood of Young Harris and Caleb Cox of North Greenville garnered second team recognition.

Conference Carolinas had five named on the NCBWA Preseason All-America teams. Brown was on the first team with Bussey III and Smallwood on the second team and Jonny Smith of Young Harris and Spencer Cipro of Belmont Abbey on the third team.

In terms of rankings, all four of those programs garnered attention in national polls, along with the University of Mount Olive. All five teams are mentioned in the D2 Baseball Preseason poll with Belmont Abbey, Francis Marion, North Greenville and Young Harris garnering mention in the ABCA and NCBWA national polls.

NCBWA PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAMS - LINK
FIRST TEAM
SP – Matty Brown, North Greenville
SECOND TEAM
1B – Charlie Bussey III, Francis Marion
DH – Kade Smallwood, Young Harris
THIRD TEAM
2B – Jonny Smith, Young Harris
SP – Spencer Cipro, Belmont Abbey

NCBWA PRESEASON ALL-SOUTHEAST REGION TEAMS - LINK
C – Jack Enrico, Young Haris
1B – Charlie Bussey III, Francis Marion
2B – Jonny Smith, Young Harris
3B – Drew Bray, Young Harris
OF – Caleb Burr, Belmont Abbey
DH – Kade Smallwood, Young Harris
SP – Matty Brown, North Greenville
SP – Spencer Cipro, Belmont Abbey
RP – Sam Neal, Young Harris

D2 BASEBALL PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAMS - LINK
FIRST TEAM
OF – Caleb Burr, Belmont Abbey
SP – Matty Brown, North Greenville
SECOND TEAM
1B – Charlie Bussey III, Francis Marion
DH – Kade Smallwood, Young Harris
RP – Caleb Cox, North Greenville

NCBWA NATIONAL RANKINGS – LINK
13 – North Greenville
21 – Young Harris
RV – Francis Marion, Belmont Abbey

ABCA NATIONAL RANKINGS – LINK
10 – North Greenville
16 – Young Harris
17 – Belmont Abbey
RV – Francis Marion

D2 BASEBALL NATIONAL RANKINGS – LINK
6 – North Greenville
22 – Belmont Abbey
RV – Francis Marion, Mount Olive, Young Harris

NCBWA SOUTHEAST REGION RANKINGS – LINK
3 – North Greenville
4 – Young Harris
5 – Francis Marion
6 – Belmont Abbey
RV – Mount Olive