ATLANTA, Ga. – Three teams split the top ASUN Conference Baseball Preseason honors as Kennesaw State’s Terence Norman was voted the Preseason Player of the Year, Stetson’s Daniel Paret took home the Preseason Pitcher of the Year honor and Dakota Julylia of Jacksonville was voted the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, announced by the league office on Wednesday. Defending tournament champion Liberty was favored in the Coaches Poll to claim the league title with five first-place votes, narrowly ahead of regular-season champion FGCU with the remaining four first-place tallies.
The Eagles and Flames also led the way with four members each on the Preseason All-Conference Team. Kennesaw State and Stetson both had two selections to the team while Jacksonville, Lipscomb and NJIT had one honoree each as voted on by the league’s nine head coaches.
Norman, a two-time All-Conference First Team selection (2018, 2019), was named Player of the Year after recording a conference-best .350 batting average last season and finishing second on the Owls team with 40 RBIs. The senior from Kennesaw, Ga., Norman tallied 13 doubles and five dingers last season which were part of his 75 total hits, which ranked second in the league. Norman added 35 runs scored, a .481 slugging percentage and .431 on-base percentage last season for the Owls.
Paret, the reigning ASUN Freshman of the Year, was named to the 2019 ASUN All-Conference Second Team after recording 102 strikeouts, second in the league, in 94.2 innings of work on the mound. He went 5-4 record during his inaugural collegiate campaign with a 3.61 ERA, which was second among Hatter starting pitchers. A Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America honoree, Paret was fifth in the league for opponent batting average (.219) and became the first freshman in Stetson history to record 100 strikeouts in a season.
Last season’s ASUN Defensive Player of the Year, Julylia returns for his final season patrolling shortstop for the Dolphins. He had a .981 fielding percentage in 2019 committing only four errors in over 200 chances. The Dolphin senior hit a career-best .313 (68-217) at the plate with 11 extra-base hits (9 doubles) and 28 RBIs. A 2019 All-Tournament selection, he added six steals and just had 14 strikeouts in 253 plate appearances. A 2019 Brooks Wallace Award Watch List selection, Julylia also produced 68 hits and 41 runs for Jacksonville.
Following Liberty and FGCU in the 2019 Preseason Coaches Poll were Stetson and Jacksonville which were separated by just one point and rounded out the top-four. North Florida sits in fifth place, followed by Lipscomb, Kennesaw State, NJIT and North Alabama to conclude the poll.
Opening day is right around the corner as teams prepare for first pitch of the 2020 ASUN Baseball season on Feb. 14. Read more about this year’s Preseason All-Conference Team below.
ASUN Baseball Preseason All-Conference Team
SP | Mason Studstill, FGCU: A senior, Studstill was named to the ASUN All-Conference First Team last season after finishing the year third in the conference with a 2.60 ERA and fifth in strikeouts with 96. He recorded a 5-2 record in 15 starts and 86.2 innings pitched on the mound and averaged nearly 10 strikeouts (9.97) per nine innings.
SP | Noah Skirrow, Liberty: Skirrow ranked fourth in the ASUN with 98 strikeouts last season with a 3.76 ERA in 76.2 innings pitched for the Flames. The junior had a 5-6 record in 16 appearances and his 11.50 strikeouts per nine innings led the conference.
SP | Daniel Paret, Stetson: Paret, the reigning Freshman of the Year, was named to the 2019 ASUN All-Conference Second Team after recording 102 strikeouts, which ranked second in the league, in 94.2 innings of work on the hill. He had a 5-4 record during his inaugural collegiate campaign with a 3.61 ERA.
RP | Garret Price, Liberty: The senior from Evington, Va., finished second on the Liberty team with three saves in 2019 to go along with 71 strikeouts and a 3.15 ERA. Price had a 7-3 record out with 27 of his 29 appearances coming out of the bullpen.
RP | Danny Garcia, Stetson: Garcia led the ASUN with a 1.22 ERA last season and notched two saves in 25 appearances out of the bullpen for the Hatters. A sophomore from Pembroke Pines, Fla., he was named to the All-Freshmen Team in 2019 after recording five wins and 32 strikeouts in 59.0 innings pitched.
C | Alex Brait, FGCU: Brait, who led the Eagles with 237 at-bats, collected 76 hits for a .321 batting average while collecting a team-leading 10 stolen bases last season. He added 30 RBIs, eight doubles and four home runs while committing just one error for a .998 fielding percentage. The senior was named First Team All-Conference in 2018 and landed on the Second Team in 2019.
1B | Justin Russell, Kennesaw State: Russell belted a conference-high 12 home runs last season to go along with 37 RBIs. A senior from Marietta, Ga., he was also the lone ASUN player with over a .600 slugging percentage (.609) while registering a .308 batting average with 48 hits, including nine doubles, on the year.
*2B | Will Wagner, Liberty: The lone unanimous selection to the team, Wagner earned First Team All-Conference honors with a .305 batting average and 14 doubles, which was second on his Flames squad. The junior from Crozet, Va., belted six homers to go along with 43 runs scored and 42 RBIs on the year.
SS | Dakota Julylia, Jacksonville: The defending Defensive Player of the Year, Julylia had a .981 fielding percentage at his shortstop position committing only four errors in over 200 chances. The Dolphin senior hit .313 (68-217) with 11 extra-base hits (9 doubles) and 28 RBIs. A 2019 All-Tournament selection, he added six steals and only had 14 strikeouts in 253 plate appearances.
3B | Richie Garcia, FGCU: The 2017 ASUN Freshman of the Year, Garcia batted .289 (58-201) last season. He belted six homers to go along with 13 doubles and a triple for 20 total extra-base hits. A senior from Davie, Fla., he was fourth on the Eagles squad with a .453 slugging percentage a year ago while coming in third for walks with 34.
3B | Julio Marcano, NJIT: Marcano, a two-time ASUN All-Conference Second Team honoree, finished last season with a team-high .509 slugging percentage which also ranked sixth in the conference. His eight home runs also led the Highlanders while also adding nine doubles and 31 RBIs, second on his squad.
OF | Terence Norman, Kennesaw State: A two-time All-Conference First Team selection, Norman recorded a conference-best .350 batting average last season and finished second on the Owls team with 40 RBIs. The senior hometown product had 13 doubles and five dingers that were part of his 75 hits which were second in the ASUN.
OF | Gray Betts, Liberty: An All-Tournament and All-Freshmen Team honoree last season, Betts had team-highs batting average (.314) and on-base percentage (.455) during his first season in Lynchburg. He scored 29 runs for Liberty and batted-in 24 while registering 54 hits in 2019.
OF | Maddux Houghton, Lipscomb: Houghton had the league’s second-best batting average in 2019 at .342 (66-119) while his 20 stolen bases were also good enough for second in the ASUN. The senior outfielder, who was named to the All-Tournament Team a year ago, added seven doubles and four triples and home runs for the Bisons.
DH | Joe Kinker, FGCU: A member of the 2019 ASUN All-Freshmen Team, Kinker finished the season with a .461 on-base percentage which ranked second on the FGCU team. He totaled seven round-trippers during his freshman campaign adding nine doubles and 40 RBIs while recording a .324 (58-179) average at the plate.
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- denotes unanimous selection to the preseason all-conference team
2020 ASUN Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll
Pl. Team 1st Place Votes Points 2019 Record
1. Liberty 5 75 43-21 (15-9)
2. FGCU 4 71 34-21 (16-7)
3. Stetson 60 27-32 (11-12)
4. Jacksonville 59 32-27 (13-11)
5. North Florida 44 32-25 (12-11)
6. Lipscomb 35 30-25 (14-10)
7. Kennesaw State 34 27-29 (11-13)
8. NJIT 14 17-27-1 (7-17)
9. North Alabama 13 16-38 (7-16)
For the ninth-consecutive year, the ASUN took to social media to poll the fans for the conference preseason superlative awards. A total of 5,444 votes were cast for student-athletes across the league. Lipscomb’s Maddux Houghton was named the Fan-Voted Preseason Player of the Year with 416 votes, while Jacksonville’s Tyler Santana got the nod for Fan-Voted Pitcher of the Year with a poll-high 807 votes. Kennesaw State’s Tyler Simon earned Fan-Voted Defensive Player of the Year honors after garnering 679 votes.
