IRVING, Texas – Regular season champion East Carolina picked up more hardware as the 2021 American Athletic Conference baseball postseason honors were announced Monday. The Pirates’ Connor Norby was selected as the Player of the Year, while Gavin Williams, was picked as Pitcher of the Year. ECU also took home Coach of the Year honors as head coach Cliff Godwin received the award for the third time. Tulane’s Bennett Lee was named Newcomer Position Player of the Year and Wichita State’s Jace Kaminska was selected as Newcomer Pitcher of the Year.
East Carolina led all schools with seven all-conference selections, including three on the first team. Wichita State led the schools with five first-team honorees. Hunter Goodman of Memphis was named to the first team for the second time.
Player of the Year
Connor Norby, So., 2B, East Carolina
Norby leads the nation with 89 hits and is also in the top 20 in the country in batting average (6th– .420), total bases (5th – 140) and runs (16th – 56). In addition, the sophomore has 12 home runs and 42 runs driven in. He has 30 multi-hit games this year. Norby started the season with a 12-game hitting streak and after being held hitless for one game then went on to record a 20-game hit streak, which is tied for the third-longest in conference history. Norby also had a nation-leading 56-game on-base streak, dating back to 2020, which was tied for the longest in conference history (tying Rylan Thomas of UCF during the 2017 and 2018 seasons).
Pitcher of the Year
Gavin Williams, Jr., RHP, East Carolina
Williams is a 9-0 this season with a league-leading 1.48 earned-run average and 98 strikeouts in 61.0 innings of work. His ERA sixth in the nation, while his nine wins rank eighth. He is averaging 14.46 strikeouts per nine innings, which is also sixth in the country. The junior righty has struck out at least eight batters in eight consecutive starts heading into the championship and has 10 or more strikeouts in four of those contests.
Newcomer Position Player of the Year
Bennett Lee, Fr., C, Tulane
Lee has hit .440 with four home runs and 28 runs driven in in just 33 games for the Green Wave. He has hit safely in 25 of those 33 games and had multiple hits in 20 of them. At one point, Lee had a 19-game hit streak with multiple hits in the final nine games of the streak.
Newcomer Pitcher of the Year
Jace Kaminska, Fr., RHP, Wichita State
Kaminska has posted a 7-1 record in 11 appearances for the Shockers, including all seven wins coming in nine starts. The freshman right-hander has a 2.52 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 53.2 innings of work. He allowed at most one run in six of his appearances and has struck out five or more batters in five outings.
Coach of the Year
Cliff Godwin, East Carolina
Godwin has led the Pirates to a 38-13 overall record with a 20-8 mark in conference play. It is the third time he has been named American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (2015 and 2019). Godwin’s team became the second in conference history to win 20 league games, joining the 2019 Pirates.
Player of the Year
Connor Norby, So., 2B, East Carolina
Pitcher of the Year
Gavin Williams, Jr., RHP, East Carolina
Newcomer Position Player of the Year
Bennett Lee, Fr., C, Tulane
Newcomer Pitcher of the Year
Jace Kaminska, Fr., RHP, Wichita State
Coach of the Year
Cliff Godwin, East Carolina
All-Conference First Team
Garrett Schoenle, Sr., SP, Cincinnati
Gavin Williams, Jr., SP, East Carolina*
Robert Gasser, Jr., SP, Houston
Jace Kaminska, Fr., SP, Wichita State
Aaron Haase, So., RP, Wichita State
Hunter Goodman, So., C, Memphis
Bennett Lee, Fr., C, Tulane
Garrett Kocis, Jr., 1B, Wichita State
Connor Norby, So., 2B, East Carolina
Collin Burns, R-So., SS, Tulane
Paxton Wallace, Jr., 3B, Wichita State
Jordan Rathbone, R-Sr., OF, UCF*
Paul Komistek, Jr., OF, Cincinnati
Corrigan Bartlett, Sr., OF, Wichita State
Josh Moylan, Fr., DH, East Carolina
All-Conference Second Team
Colton Gordon, R-So., SP, UCF
Collin Sullivan, R-Sr., SP, South Florida
Jack Aldrich, R-Jr., SP, Tulane
Braden Olthoff, R-Jr., SP, Tulane
Cam Colmore, R-Sr., RP, East Carolina
Josh Crouch, Jr., C, UCF
Thomas Francisco, So., 1B, East Carolina
Jace Mercer, Gr., 2B, Cincinnati
Joey Bellini, Gr., SS, Cincinnati
Zach Agnos, Fr., 3B, East Carolina
Gephry Pena, So., OF, UCF
Bryson Worrell, Jr., OF, East Carolina
Tyler Bielamowicz, Sr., OF, Houston
Carmine Lane, R-Fr., OF, South Florida
Griffin Merritt, Jr., DH, Cincinnati
* – denotes unanimous first-team selection
