ATLANTA, Ga. – Three teams split the top ASUN Conference Baseball Preseason honors as Lipscomb’s Haddon Adams was voted the Preseason Player of the Year, FGCU’s Mason Studstill took home the Preseason Pitcher of the Year honor and Cam Locklear of Liberty was voted the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, announced by the league office on Wednesday.
Liberty was favored in the Coaches Poll to claim the league title for the second consecutive year with four first-place votes while Stetson (2) and FGCU (3) also received first-place tallies to finish in second and third place, respectively. The Bisons and Flames led the way with four members each on the Preseason All-Conference Team. FGCU, Jacksonville and Kennesaw State all had two honorees each as voted on by the league’s nine head coaches.
Adams helped lead Lipscomb to an 11-5 record during the shortened 2020 season as the 11 wins were tied for the league-high. The senior from Murfreesboro, Tenn., finished in the top-five of five statistical categories last season and seven in the top-10. He led the ASUN in runs with 21 and was second in stolen bases with nine. The second baseman was fourth in both total bases (35) and hits (21) while finishing in the fifth spot for RBI with 13. His .328 batting average for the Bisons was sixth in the league along with his .547 slugging percentage.
Studstill, a 2019 ASUN First Team All-Conference honoree and 2020 Preseason All-Conference selection, finished the last season with three wins which ranked tied for first in the conference. All-time the senior starter has a 2.30 ERA during his two years competing in the ASUN which ranks fifth in the league’s record book. In 2020, he also ranked second in the conference for hits allowed (11) and was third in both strikeouts with 35 and holding his opponents to a .145 batting average.
Locklear returns for his senior season patrolling the shortstop position for the Flames and was selected as the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. A 2019 All-Tournament Team honoree, he ranked third in the league for assists in 2020 with 51 and was sixth in on-base percentage at .466. Locklear recorded a .949 fielding percentage a year ago committing just four errors as he started all 17 games and ranked second on the Liberty squad with a .316 batting average to go along with three steals and a .439 slugging percentage.
Following Liberty, Stetson and FGCU in the 2021 Preseason Coaches Poll were Lipscomb, Jacksonville and Kennesaw State which were separated by 15 points and rounded out the top-six. North Florida sits in seventh place, followed by North Alabama and league newcomer Bellarmine to round out the poll.
Opening day is right around the corner as teams prepare for the first pitch of the 2021 ASUN Baseball season slated to begin Feb. 19. 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 in 2019 and finished tied for first in the conference during the shortened 2020 campaign with three wins. He also recorded 35 strikeouts and held his opponents to a .145 batting average while his 2.30 ERA during his two-year ASUN career ranks fifth all-time in the league record book.
SP | Austin Temple, Jacksonville: A junior from Palm City, Fla., Temple concluded the 2020 campaign leading the ASUN with a .71 ERA in 25.1 innings pitched. He allowed a conference-low two earned runs and recorded a 2-1 record in four starts on the mound. In addition, his 29 strikeouts and .163 opponents’ batting average were both fourth-best in the league.
SP | Mason Meyer, Liberty: Meyer, a southpaw starter for the Flames, returns for his junior season after posting a 3.38 ERA a year ago and recording 20 strikeouts. He tossed 21.1 innings over the course of four starts for Liberty and notched one win.
RP | Tyler Guilfoil, Lipscomb: Guilfoil, a 2019 ASUN All-Freshmen Team recipient, had a league-best six saves in 2020 for the Bisons who finished 11-5 on the year. He also had a conference-high seven games finished and struck out 18 batters in his eight relief appearances.
C | Chaz Bertolani, Lipscomb: Bertolani registered a league-high six (6-15) runners caught stealing in 2020 for Lipscomb. He finished the shortened campaign ranked fourth in the ASUN with a .364 batting average and was 11th in on-base percentage at .432.
1B | Christian Coipel, Jacksonville: Coipel earned a spot on the Preseason All-Conference Team after finishing first in the ASUN with five home runs a year ago. He added 20 RBI, which ranked second in the league, to go along with a .552 slugging percentage (5th) and 12 runs scored (9th) as the Dolphins earned a win over No. 35 West Virginia last season.
1B | Logan Mathieu, Liberty: Mathieu returns to the Liberty lineup after missing last season due to injury. In 2019, he led the Flames with seven home runs and 52 RBI at the plate with a .410 slugging percentage and .378 on-base percentage. Mathieu added 13 doubles and 43 runs for the ASUN Champions.
2B | Haddon Adams, Lipscomb: Adams finished the 2020 season as one of the ASUN’s top offensive threats. He finished in the top-five in five statistical categories including leading the way in runs with 21. He finished second in stolen bases (9), fourth in hits (21) and fifth in both RBI (13) and home runs (3). In addition, the senior second baseman was sixth in both batting average (.328) and slugging percentage (.547).
SS | Cam Locklear, Liberty: A 2019 All-Tournament Team member, Locklear finished the shortened 2020 season with the sixth-best on-base percentage (.466) in the ASUN. He also registered a .316 batting average and led the Flames with three stolen bases while adding nine RBI and seven runs scored.
3B | Richie Garcia, FGCU: The 2017 ASUN Freshman of the Year, Garcia returns for his final stanza with the Eagles. A 2018 First Team All-Conference honoree, he finished last season ranked fifth in the ASUN with 13 RBI and produced four doubles for an FGCU squad that went 9-7 in the shortened season.
OF | Terence Norman, Kennesaw State: A two-time All-Conference First Team selection, Norman finished the 2020 season with a .397 on-base percentage to go along with nine runs scored and five RBI. The senior hometown product from Kennesaw, Ga., was named the 2020 Preseason Player of the Year.
OF | Gray Betts, Liberty: An All-Tournament and All-Freshmen Team honoree in 2019, Betts was named a Preseason All-Conference pick for the second consecutive season. The sophomore Raleigh, N.C., native recorded 11 hits a year ago to go along with a .312 on-base percentage and added six runs and four RBI for the Flames.
OF | Maddux Houghton, Lipscomb: Houghton helped guide Lipscomb to a league-best 11 victories a year ago as he had a .295 batting average and finished second on the Bisons team with 12 runs scored. A junior from Dalton, Ga., Houghton also added 11 RBI, two doubles and a home run to the Bisons offensive attack last season.
DH | Tyler Tolve, Kennesaw State: Tolve was second on the Owls squad with 15 RBI while leading the team in stolen bases (5) in 2020. The junior ended the shortened 2020 season with a .366 on-base percentage and had a .972 fielding percentage for Kennesaw State.
* – denotes unanimous selection to the preseason all-conference team
| 2021 ASUN Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll | ||||
| Pl. | Team | 1st Place Votes | Points | 2020 Record |
| 1. | Liberty | 4 | 73 | 10-7 |
| 2. | Stetson | 2 | 69 | 11-4 |
| 3. | FGCU | 3 | 63 | 9-7 |
| 4. | Lipscomb | 55 | 11-5 | |
| 5. | Jacksonville | 49 | 9-9 | |
| 6. | Kennesaw State | 40 | 10-8 | |
| 7. | North Florida | 26 | 4-12 | |
| 8. | North Alabama | 16 | 3-13 | |
| 9. | Bellarmine | 14 | 10-4 |
For the 10th-straight year, the ASUN took to social media to poll the fans for the conference preseason superlative awards. A total of 4,305 votes were cast for student-athletes across the league. North Florida’s Trey Spratling-Williams was named the Fan-Voted Preseason Player of the Year with a poll-high 488 votes, while Jacksonville’s Austin Temple got the nod for Fan-Voted Pitcher of the Year with 246 votes. Reid Homan of North Alabama earned Fan-Voted Defensive Player of the Year honors after garnering 417 votes.
