CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Two-time defending champion Campbell 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 Radford senior infielder J.D. Mundy (Roanoke, Va.) the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year and Charleston Southern sophomore R.J. Petit (Rock Hill, S.C.) the league’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
The Camels, last year’s regular-season and Tournament champion, received seven first-place votes and 91 total points to win the league in 2020. Campbell is coming off a 37-21 season in 2019, won the Big South with a 19-7 conference mark, and advanced to the Finals of the Greenville Regional. CU welcomes back five overall starters, 11 position players and nine pitchers this season.
High Point received one first-place vote and was second in the preseason poll with 82 points, while Radford received one first-place vote and finished in the third spot with 79 points. Winthrop, last year’s Big South Tournament Runner-Up, collected the remaining first-place vote and was fourth with 74 points. Presbyterian College was fifth with 60 points, with Gardner-Webb in the sixth spot with 50 points. Charleston Southern landed in the seventh position (41 points), USC Upstate garnered eighth-place (32 points), followed by UNC Asheville (ninth, 25 points) and Longwood (10th, 16 points).
Mundy is the third Radford player to be voted the Big South’s Preseason Player of the Year in the award’s 15-year history, and first since in 2013. A First-Team All-Big South selection in 2019, Mundy started all 56 games, hit .304 with a .412 on-base percentage (10th in the conference) and a .588 slugging clip (second). He led the Highlanders and finished fourth in the Big South with 13 home runs, and drove in a team-high 55 runs. His 17 doubles ranked second in the league, while his 120 total bases were third. In Big South games last season, Mundy batted .305 with 10 home runs, 34 RBI and slugged .648. Mundy received six first-place votes and 22 points in the preseason voting, ahead of Presbyterian’s Zacchaeus Rasberry, who placed second with 11 points (two first-place votes).
Petit is the first Charleston Southern Buccaneer to be voted Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year since the award’s inception in 2007. He was a First-Team All-Conference selection in 2019 and received Freshman All-America accolades from Collegiate Baseball. Petit appeared in 20 games with two starts, went 3-0 with five saves and a 2.45 earned run average in 40.1 innings pitched. He held opponents to a .163 batting average, fanned 50 batters — including 19 looking, and registered an 11.16 K/9 IP ratio. Petit’s five saves were fourth-most in the Big South. In conference action, Petit was 2-0 with four saves in 10 appearances, posted a 0.87 ERA, struck out 27 batters and held Big South hitters to a .143 batting average in 20.2 IP. He received four first-place votes and 20 total points in this year’s preseason voting, just ahead of Presbyterian College’s Eric Miles (18 points and four first-place votes).
The 2020 Big South baseball schedule begins Friday, Feb. 14, while the first conference meeting is set for the weekend of March 13-15. The 2020 Big South Baseball Championship is slated for May 19-23, and the nine-team postseason tournament will again be played at SEGRA Stadium in Fayetteville, N.C.
2020 Big South Conference Preseason Baseball Poll
Rk Team (first-place votes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points
1. Campbell (7) 7 1 1 – – – 1 – – – 91
2. High Point (1) 1 3 4 1 1 – – – – – 82
3. Radford (1) 1 3 1 4 1 – – – – – 79
4. Winthrop (1) 1 2 3 2 1 – – – 1 – 74
5. Presbyterian College – 1 – 2 4 1 2 – – – 60
6. Gardner-Webb – – – – 3 5 1 1 – – 50
7. Charleston Southern – – 1 – – 2 4 2 – 1 41
8. USC Upstate – – – 1 – 1 2 – 6 – 32
9. UNC Asheville – – – – – – – 6 3 1 25
10. Longwood – – – – – 1 – 1 – 8 16
