CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – For the first time, High Point University has been voted the Big South Conference’s preseason baseball favorite by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the conference office. In addition, the coaches voted Gardner-Webb senior infielder Collin Thacker (Wilmington, N.C.) the Conference’s Preseason Player of the Year and Winthrop redshirt-junior Matt Crohan (Jamesport, N.Y.) the league’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
A record-tying five teams received first-place consideration in the predicted order of finish, and the Panthers emerged as the frontrunner with four top plaudits and 92 total points. High Point’s previous high in the league’s preseason ranking was second in 2015. HPU is coming off a 32-24 overall record in 2016, and tied for second in the Big South with a 14-10 conference mark. High Point, which has gone 61-38 ( =61.2 percent) in Big South games since 2013, welcomes back seven overall starters, six position players and eight pitchers in 2017.
Campbell received two first-place votes and was second in the preseason poll with 81 points — its highest position in the preseason ranking since rejoining the Big South in 2012. Liberty was picked third with 78 points (two first-place votes), while Winthrop finished fourth in the voting with 63 points. Longwood was fifth with 61 points and one first-place vote, with Gardner-Webb in the sixth spot with 59 points and the remaining first-place nod. Radford landed in the seventh position (50 points), Presbyterian College garnered eighth-place (32 points), followed by Charleston Southern (ninth, 19 points) and UNC Asheville (10th, 15 points).
Thacker is the first Runnin’ Bulldog to be voted the Big South’s Preseason Player of the Year in the award’s 12-year history. A 2017 preseason All-American, Thacker led the Big South and the nation last season with a conference record-tying 28 doubles en route to All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball. He was the Big South’s top hitter with a .394 average, batted .411 with runners in scoring position and had 20 two-out RBI. Thacker, who recorded a 22-game hitting streak last season, scored 46 runs and knocked in 46. In Big South action, he batted .391 with a .522 slugging percentage. Thacker received five first-place votes and 21 points in the preseason voting to finish ahead of Campbell’s Cole Hallum, who placed second with 11 points and two first-place nods. Longwood’s Alex Lewis and Winthrop’s Anthony Paulsen tied for third in the voting with eight points each.
Crohan was last year’s Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year and went 2-0 in three starts with a 2.37 earned run average and 21 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched before an injury sidelined him for the year. He allowed just 12 hits, one walk and a .194 opponents’ batting average before the setback. In 2015, he posted a 7-4 record with 87 strikeouts in 76.2 innings as a sophomore, and was selected to play for Team USA that summer. Two seasons ago, Crohan went 5-2 in his seven conference starts with a 2.59 earned run average and 55 strikeouts in 48.2 innings of work. He received five first-place votes and 16 total points in this year’s voting, ahead of Campbell’s Erik Dowse (nine points), Radford’s Zack Ridgely (eight points and two first-place votes) and Gardner-Webb’s Wil Sellers (eight points).
The 2017 Big South baseball season begins Friday, Feb. 17, while the first conference meeting is set for the weekend of March 17-19. The 2017 Big South Baseball Championship tournament is slated for May 23-27, and the eight-team postseason event will again be hosted by the Lexington County Recreation and Aging Commission (LCRAC) at the Lexington County Baseball Stadium in Lexington, S.C.
2017 Big South Conference Preseason Baseball Poll
Rk – School (first-place votes) Points
1 – High Point (4) 92
2 – Campbell (2) 81
3 – Liberty (2) 78
4 – Winthrop 63
5 – Longwood (1) 61
6 – Gardner-Webb (1) 59
7 – Radford 50
8 – Presbyterian College 32
9 – Charleston Southern 19
10 – UNC Asheville 15
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 10 points, followed by 9 points for second-place, and so on.
