Elliott named SAC Pitcher of the Year

Published 1:26 pm Thursday, April 26, 2018

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Lincoln Memorial University pitcher Ethan Elliott has been named to the All-SAC first team and Pitcher of the Year, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday with the unveiling of the 2018 SAC baseball awards.

In addition, outfielder Logan Augustine and shortstop Tyler Adams were selected to the All-SAC second team while outfielder Will Reddick and pitcher Joe Bobiak were chosen for the All-SAC honorable mention team.

The Railsplitters (31-18, 15-12 SAC) placed fourth in the conference standings for the regular season and will receive a first-round bye in the SAC Championship before facing third-seeded Carson-Newman on Friday night. LMU reached 30 regular-season wins for the first time since 2009 and 23 home wins for the first time since 2007.

Email newsletter signup

Elliott, a Knoxville, Tennessee native, led a Railsplitter pitching staff that was third in the league with a 5.08 ERA, tied for first with 413 strikeouts—which already stands as a program record—and averaged over one strikeout per inning for the first time in program history.

The junior lefty led all SAC pitchers with 106 strikeouts, 81.2 innings pitched and 11.68 strikeouts per nine innings. He was also second with a 2.98 ERA—first among full-time starting pitchers—and tied for second in wins at seven with Bobiak with a 7-3 record overall.

Elliott racked up at least 10 strikeouts in seven of his 12 starts. His signature performance came March 23 against Carson-Newman in which he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and went the full nine innings with career high-tying 12 strikeouts in a 2-1 win. He surrendered only one earned run on two hits and faced one batter over the minimum.

Augustine was named to the NCBWA Preseason All-America second team, and All-SAC and NCBWA All-Southeast Region first teams. The Urbandale, Iowa native started LMU’s first 38 games and led the team with a .398 average, hits (51) and stolen bases (11) before sustaining a season-ending injury at Coker on April 6.

He reached safely in 35 of 38 games on the year and finished fourth in the SAC in batting average and second in on-base percentage at .503. The senior holds LMU program career records for runs scored (195), hits (240), walks (137) and intentional walks (13) as well as the single-season records for runs scored (74), walks (46), and intentional walks (13)—all of which were set in 2017. In addition, the slugger ranks second in career doubles, total bases and fielding percentage.

Adams, a sophomore, was also named to the preseason All-SAC first team. He appeared in 48 of 49 games and tied the single-season program record with 21 doubles. In addition, the shortstop led the conference with 61 runs scored and was a perfect 14-for-14 on stolen base attempts.

The Woodstock, Georgia native batted .347 overall and set new career highs with nine home runs, a .469 on-base percentage and .629 slugging percentage. In SAC play, Adams hit .356 with seven of his nine homers and 26 of his 41 RBI. His nine stolen bases against SAC opponents tied for the second-most in the league.

Reddick, a junior outfielder from Nashville, Tennessee, hit .365 with five home runs and 32 RBI in his first year at LMU. The College of Central Florida transfer hit .350 in SAC play with all five home runs and 24 RBI.

Reddick went 9-for-12 in the series against Anderson and 7-for-15 with three homers in the three games at Catawba. As a solid contact hitter, he struck out just 12 times in 148 at-bats—the second-lowest total for any SAC player with at least 140 at-bats. He also only committed one error in the field.

Bobiak, also a junior transfer in his first year at LMU, tied for second in the SAC with seven wins. The former Cumberland County Community College lefty finished 7-1 overall, including 4-1 in SAC play. His 4.02 ERA ranked sixth in the conference.

Bobiak’s signature outing was a complete game, one-hit shutout over Tusculum on March 10. In that game, the Westville, New Jersey product allowed a leadoff single before holding the Pioneers hitless the rest of the game as LMU won 4-0.

———

2018 SAC Baseball Awards

Player of the Year

Chance Bowden, Catawba

Pitcher of the Year

Ethan Elliott, Lincoln Memorial

Freshman of the Year

Chandler Castleberry, Anderson

Coach of the Year

Jim Gantt, Catawba

All-SAC First Team

OF – Justin Dean, Lenoir-Rhyne

OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba

OF – Jarel McDade, Tusculum

1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba

2B – Daulton Martin, Tusculum

SS – Colin Allman, Newberry

3B – Christian Stampler, Mars Hill

C – Matt Honeycutt, Mars Hill

DH – Bradley Brown, Wingate

SP – Ethan Elliott, Lincoln Memorial

SP – John Grigg, Lenoir-Rhyne

SP – Dillon Cate, Carson-Newman

RP – Landon Whitson, Lenoir-Rhyne

All-SAC Second Team

OF – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial

OF – Danton Hyman, Newberry

OF – Chandler Castleberry, Anderson

1B – Dillon Carpenter, Anderson

2B – McCann Mellett, Wingate

SS – Tyler Adams, Lincoln Memorial

3B – Jackson Raper, Catawba

C – Ethan Goforth, Carson-Newman

DH – Heath Mitchem, Catawba

SP – Austin Turgeon, Wingate

SP – Charles Hall, Tusculum

SP – Zac Brown, Mars Hill

RP – Will Gardner, Carson-Newman

Honorable Mentions

OF – Kyle Smith, Catawba

OF – Derek Olenchuk, Newberry

OF – Will Reddick, Lincoln Memorial

1B – Alex Reynolds, Lenoir-Rhyne

2B – Joe Butts, Catawba

SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson

3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman

C – Nate Montgomery, Tusculum

DH – Colby Skeen, Tusculum

SP – Ryan Harbin, Newberry

SP – Joe Bobiak, Lincoln Memorial

RP – DJ Laxton, Catawba

Gold Glove

RF – Luke Setzer, Catawba

CF – Ty Andrus, Wingate

LF – Derek Olenchuk, Newberry

1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba

2B – Dalton Landsdowne, Newberry

SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson

3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman

C – Ethan Goforth, Carson-Newman

P – John Grigg, Lenoir-Rhyne