Conference USA has announced its 2016 preseason baseball awards, as chosen by the league’s 12 head coaches. Florida Atlantic junior infielder CJ Chatham was selected as the preseason Player of the Year, while Rice senior left-hander Blake Fox was named the preseason Pitcher of the Year. For the second straight season, Rice was the unanimous favorite to win the league’s championship. The Owls have won either the regular season or tournament championship in each of its 10 years as a member of C-USA.
Chatham hit .335 in 2015 and was second on the team with 44 RBI. His 22 doubles led an FAU squad that returned to an NCAA Regional appearance with the help of his 19-game hitting streak late in the season. Chatham scored 44 runs, belted three triples and three home runs, slugging .496 on the year in 60 games for the Owls, who were picked second in the preseason poll.
In 50 career appearances, including 32 starts, Fox is 26-2 all-time with a 2.45 ERA in 220.2 career innings. Last season, he finished third in Conference USA with a team-best eight wins and was eighth in ERA (3.30) for pitchers with at least the same number of innings (79.0). He maintained a 2.2-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio and finished the year strong, posting a composite 1.52 ERA with a .226 opponents’ batting average over his final five starts of the season.
Chatham was joined by FAU senior IF/OF Brent Lashley on the preseason All-Conference USA team, while Fox’s teammate, OF Ryan Chandler, was named to the squad. Lashley hit .274 last season, playing in 58 games with 51 starts. He scored 42 runs with 28 RBI and 27 walks and led FAU with nine sacrifice flies. Chandler was named C-USA Freshman of the Year after leading the Owls with 22 multiple-hit games and batting .302 for the season. He topped Rice and ranked eighth in the conference with 17 doubles. Chandler drew 25 walks to give him a .382 on-base percentage, drove in 34 runs and scored 43 times.
Old Dominion placed a league-high three players on the preseason team in junior RHP Sam Sinnen, sophomore IF Zach Rutherford and senior OF Connor Myers. Sinnen led the team with a 6-2 record and a team-best 2.39 ERA. In 60.1 innings of work, he walked only 11 batters with a team-high 51 strikeouts as opponents hit only .238 against him. Rutherford was a Freshman All-American after ranking third on the Monarchs in hitting at .317. He batted .355 in 27 conference games, which was the best on the team. Regarded as one of the top defensive outfielders in Conference USA, Myers started all 56 games and batted .302 with a team-high 20 stolen bases (second in C-USA) in 2015.
Marshall and UAB each produced two players for the preseason squad, with the Thundering Herd placing senior RHP Chase Boster and junior OF Corey Bird, while the Blazers list senior C Esteban Tresgallo and junior LHP Thomas Lowery. Boster started nine games a year ago for Marshall, posting a 7-1 record in 55 innings pitched with a 2.95 ERA and 37 strikeouts. Bird had a .307 batting average with 65 hits and 23 RBI last season. Tresgallo hit a team-leading 12 home runs in 2015, including seven times in the last 13 contests. The May 11 National Hitter of the Week batted .292 with a team-best 40 runs scored and 35 runs driven in. Lowery’s seven wins were the most in C-USA among all non-starting pitchers. He posted a 2.11 ERA with 62 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 55.1 innings pitched.
Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss and WKU each had one preseason team representative. Blue Raiders junior OF Brad Jarreau started all 59 games and hit .338 in 2015, the second-best average among returning C-USA players, earning him Second-Team All-Conference USA honors. Golden Eagles senior IF Tim Lynch led his squad in all three major offensive categories, including batting average (.313), home runs (9) and runs batted in (32). The Hilltoppers placed senior IF Danny Hudzina on the preseason team after he ranked sixth in C-USA in home runs (9), eighth in RBI (43), ninth in hits (66), ninth in total bases (104) and 10th in slugging percentage (.515). Hudzina finished the season as WKU’s leader in batting average (.327), multiple-hit games (22) and multiple-RBI games (10).
C-USA’s 21st baseball season gets underway on February 19. The conference championship is scheduled for May 25-29 in Hattiesburg, Miss. C-USA’s baseball programs have produced 78 NCAA appearances and 10 College World Series teams over the past 20 seasons.
2016 PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS
(as selected by C-USA’s head coaches)
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Rice (12)
2. Florida Atlantic
3. Southern Miss
4. FIU
5. Old Dominion
6. UTSA
7. Middle Tennessee
8. UAB
9. WKU
10. Charlotte
11. Louisiana Tech
12. Marshall
(first place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CJ Chatham, Florida Atlantic (Junior, Infielder)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Blake Fox, Rice (Senior, Left-hander)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P Chase Boster Sr. Marshall
P Blake Fox Sr. Rice
P Sam Sinnen Jr. Old Dominion
RP Thomas Lowery Jr. UAB
C Esteban Tresgallo Sr. UAB
IF CJ Chatham Jr. Florida Atlantic
IF Danny Hudzina Sr. WKU
IF Tim Lynch Sr. Southern Miss
IF Zach Rutherford So. Old Dominion
OF Corey Bird Jr. Marshall
OF Brad Jarreau Sr. Middle Tennessee
OF Connor Myers Sr. Old Dominion
OF Ryan Chandler So. Rice
DH/UT Brett Lashley Sr. Florida Atlantic
