Elliott named SAC Pitcher of the Year
Published 1:26 pm Thursday, April 26, 2018
ROCK HILL, S.C. — Lincoln Memorial University pitcher Ethan Elliott has been named to the All-SAC first team and Pitcher of the Year, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday with the unveiling of the 2018 SAC baseball awards.
In addition, outfielder Logan Augustine and shortstop Tyler Adams were selected to the All-SAC second team while outfielder Will Reddick and pitcher Joe Bobiak were chosen for the All-SAC honorable mention team.
The Railsplitters (31-18, 15-12 SAC) placed fourth in the conference standings for the regular season and will receive a first-round bye in the SAC Championship before facing third-seeded Carson-Newman on Friday night. LMU reached 30 regular-season wins for the first time since 2009 and 23 home wins for the first time since 2007.
Elliott, a Knoxville, Tennessee native, led a Railsplitter pitching staff that was third in the league with a 5.08 ERA, tied for first with 413 strikeouts—which already stands as a program record—and averaged over one strikeout per inning for the first time in program history.
The junior lefty led all SAC pitchers with 106 strikeouts, 81.2 innings pitched and 11.68 strikeouts per nine innings. He was also second with a 2.98 ERA—first among full-time starting pitchers—and tied for second in wins at seven with Bobiak with a 7-3 record overall.
Elliott racked up at least 10 strikeouts in seven of his 12 starts. His signature performance came March 23 against Carson-Newman in which he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and went the full nine innings with career high-tying 12 strikeouts in a 2-1 win. He surrendered only one earned run on two hits and faced one batter over the minimum.
Augustine was named to the NCBWA Preseason All-America second team, and All-SAC and NCBWA All-Southeast Region first teams. The Urbandale, Iowa native started LMU’s first 38 games and led the team with a .398 average, hits (51) and stolen bases (11) before sustaining a season-ending injury at Coker on April 6.
He reached safely in 35 of 38 games on the year and finished fourth in the SAC in batting average and second in on-base percentage at .503. The senior holds LMU program career records for runs scored (195), hits (240), walks (137) and intentional walks (13) as well as the single-season records for runs scored (74), walks (46), and intentional walks (13)—all of which were set in 2017. In addition, the slugger ranks second in career doubles, total bases and fielding percentage.
Adams, a sophomore, was also named to the preseason All-SAC first team. He appeared in 48 of 49 games and tied the single-season program record with 21 doubles. In addition, the shortstop led the conference with 61 runs scored and was a perfect 14-for-14 on stolen base attempts.
The Woodstock, Georgia native batted .347 overall and set new career highs with nine home runs, a .469 on-base percentage and .629 slugging percentage. In SAC play, Adams hit .356 with seven of his nine homers and 26 of his 41 RBI. His nine stolen bases against SAC opponents tied for the second-most in the league.
Reddick, a junior outfielder from Nashville, Tennessee, hit .365 with five home runs and 32 RBI in his first year at LMU. The College of Central Florida transfer hit .350 in SAC play with all five home runs and 24 RBI.
Reddick went 9-for-12 in the series against Anderson and 7-for-15 with three homers in the three games at Catawba. As a solid contact hitter, he struck out just 12 times in 148 at-bats—the second-lowest total for any SAC player with at least 140 at-bats. He also only committed one error in the field.
Bobiak, also a junior transfer in his first year at LMU, tied for second in the SAC with seven wins. The former Cumberland County Community College lefty finished 7-1 overall, including 4-1 in SAC play. His 4.02 ERA ranked sixth in the conference.
Bobiak’s signature outing was a complete game, one-hit shutout over Tusculum on March 10. In that game, the Westville, New Jersey product allowed a leadoff single before holding the Pioneers hitless the rest of the game as LMU won 4-0.
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2018 SAC Baseball Awards
Player of the Year
Chance Bowden, Catawba
Pitcher of the Year
Ethan Elliott, Lincoln Memorial
Freshman of the Year
Chandler Castleberry, Anderson
Coach of the Year
Jim Gantt, Catawba
All-SAC First Team
OF – Justin Dean, Lenoir-Rhyne
OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba
OF – Jarel McDade, Tusculum
1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba
2B – Daulton Martin, Tusculum
SS – Colin Allman, Newberry
3B – Christian Stampler, Mars Hill
C – Matt Honeycutt, Mars Hill
DH – Bradley Brown, Wingate
SP – Ethan Elliott, Lincoln Memorial
SP – John Grigg, Lenoir-Rhyne
SP – Dillon Cate, Carson-Newman
RP – Landon Whitson, Lenoir-Rhyne
All-SAC Second Team
OF – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Danton Hyman, Newberry
OF – Chandler Castleberry, Anderson
1B – Dillon Carpenter, Anderson
2B – McCann Mellett, Wingate
SS – Tyler Adams, Lincoln Memorial
3B – Jackson Raper, Catawba
C – Ethan Goforth, Carson-Newman
DH – Heath Mitchem, Catawba
SP – Austin Turgeon, Wingate
SP – Charles Hall, Tusculum
SP – Zac Brown, Mars Hill
RP – Will Gardner, Carson-Newman
Honorable Mentions
OF – Kyle Smith, Catawba
OF – Derek Olenchuk, Newberry
OF – Will Reddick, Lincoln Memorial
1B – Alex Reynolds, Lenoir-Rhyne
2B – Joe Butts, Catawba
SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson
3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman
C – Nate Montgomery, Tusculum
DH – Colby Skeen, Tusculum
SP – Ryan Harbin, Newberry
SP – Joe Bobiak, Lincoln Memorial
RP – DJ Laxton, Catawba
Gold Glove
RF – Luke Setzer, Catawba
CF – Ty Andrus, Wingate
LF – Derek Olenchuk, Newberry
1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba
2B – Dalton Landsdowne, Newberry
SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson
3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman
C – Ethan Goforth, Carson-Newman
P – John Grigg, Lenoir-Rhyne