By Staff
ECU Sports Information
IRVING, Texas — East Carolina senior DH Kyle Roller along with juniors OF Devin Harris, RHP Seth Maness and OF Trent Whitehead have been named preseason first-team All-Conference USA, as chosen by the league's nine head coaches.
A second-team All C-USA and C-USA All-Tournament Team selection, Whitehead set the school's single-season hit record with 105 base knocks which ranked fourth nationally. The left-handed lead-off hitter started 63 games in the outfield where he batted .376 (105-for-279) with seven home runs, 47 RBI, 24 doubles and scored 78 runs. Whitehead also took home NCAA Greenville Regional Most Outstanding Player honors. For Whitehead, this is his third preseason honor to go along with his second-team All-America selection from NCBWA and his third-team All-America designation by Ping!Baseball.
Roller, a 2009 first-team All-America selection by the America Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and Ping!Baseball, batted .366 (86-for-256) with 16 home runs and 75 RBI. He ranked among the national leaders in hit by pitches (fourth), RBI (23rd), total bases (79th), home runs (80th) and hits (98th) after earning first-team All-Conference USA and NCAA Greenville Regional All-Tournament honors. Roller has also been tabbed preseason All-America by Collegiate Baseball (first-team), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) (second-team), Ping!Baseball (second-team), while also being selected as the sixth-best player in college baseball by CollegeBaseballBlog.
Maness, who has not lost a regular season game the past two years, was 9-3 with a 4.71 ERA last season, while striking out 83 and walking just 18.
Harris, who hit .344 in 2009, belted 14 home runs while driving in 48 runs and swiping 13 bases. He helped the Pirates make its third Super Regional appearance since 2001 after driving in the game-winning run in the NCAA Greenville Regional Championship against South Carolina inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Rice sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon was chosen as the preseason Player-of-the-Year, while Southern Miss junior right-hander Todd McInnis was named the preseason Pitcher-of-the-Year. Both players won those awards last season.
Rendon was a second team All-American last season, a national semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and earned National Freshman of the Year honors from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. He became the first player in Conference USA history to be named both the Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season. Rendon led C-USA in batting average (.388), slugging percentage (.702) and home runs with a Rice freshman record of 20 round-trippers. Rendon was also tops on the team and among the league's best in RBI (72). In addition to scoring 60 runs and knocking 14 doubles, he drew 31 walks for a .406 on-base average. He was named C-USA Tournament Most Valuable Player after leading the Owls to the championship title.
McInnis became the first Southern Miss player to be named Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. He finished 9-4 with a 3.73 ERA (sixth in C-USA) and 90 strikeouts to just 34 walks. McInnis ranked among the league leaders in several categories in conference play, including wins (tied for third with four), innings pitched (fifth with 46.2) and strikeouts (fifth with 43).
Rendon is joined by three Owls teammates on the preseason All-Conference USA team. Junior SS Rick Hague is on the squad for the second straight season as he comes off a successful summer with team USA, tying for the team lead in batting. During the 2009 collegiate season he started all 61 games, leading the team in doubles with 17, hitting nine home runs and driving in 57 runs. Junior OF Chad Mozingo and junior LHP Taylor Wall are the other Rice players on the preseason team. Mozingo batted .319 with 16 doubles, eight homers and 50 RBI, while Wall was 7-6 with a 3.72 ERA and a team-high 77 strikeouts.
McInnis is joined on the preseason All-C-USA squad by Golden Eagles relief pitcher Collin Cargill. A preseason All-American, made 28 appearances in 2009, posting a 4-3 record with a 3.55 ERA and a league-leading 13 saves. Five of Cargill's saves came in postseason play, including both wins at Georgia Tech in regional play and both victories at Florida in the Super Regionals.
Four schools had one player named to the team, as Houston junior SS Blake Kelso, Marshall junior 1B Victor Gomez, Tulane sophomore C Jeremy Schaffer and UAB senior SS Jonathan Merritt each earned spots. Kelso led UH in batting at .336, while hitting a team-best 16 doubles. Gomez batted .332 with 13 doubles, along with team-bests of 18 home runs and 62 RBI. Schaffer, who starred for Team USA this past summer, hit .311 with 14 homers and 56 RBI in earning All-Freshman honors. Merritt is a four-year starter who batted .317 with 18 doubles and 20 stolen bases last season.
Conference USA's 15th baseball season gets underway on February 19. The conference tournament is scheduled for May 26-30 in Houston, with UH serving as the host for the new six-team, pool-play format.. C-USA's nine baseball schools have produced 62 NCAA appearances and nine College World Series teams over the past 14 seasons.
2010 PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS
(as selected by C-USA's head coaches)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Anthony Rendon, Rice (Sophomore, Third Baseman)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Todd McInnis, Southern Miss (Junior, Righthander)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P – Seth Maness, Jr., East Carolina
P – Todd McInnis, Jr., Southern Miss
P – Taylor Wall, So., Rice
RP – Collin Cargill, Jr., Southern Miss
C – Jeremy Schaffer, So., Tulane
IF – Victor Gomez, Jr., Marshall
IF – Rick Hague, Jr., Rice
IF – Blake Kelso, Jr., Houston
IF – Jonathan Merritt, Sr., UAB
IF – Anthony Rendon, So., Rice
OF – Devin Harris, Jr., East Carolina
OF – Chad Mozingo, Jr., Rice
OF – Trent Whitehead, Jr., East Carolina
DH/UT – Kyle Roller, Sr., East Carolina
ECU earns third preseason top 20 tanking
Tabbed No. 18 by Baseball America
ECU Sports Information
GREENVILLE — The East Carolina baseball team earned its third preseason Top 20 ranking Wednesday afternoon when they were tabbed No. 18 by Baseball America. Early this year the Pirates were picked No. 18 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 20 by Ping!Baseball.
The Pirates (46-20, 17-7 C-USA), who have made 10 NCAA Regional appearances in the last 11 seasons, claimed the 2009 Conference USA regular season and 2009 Greenville Regional titles before advancing to their third NCAA Super Regional on the way to a 46-20 overall record.
ECU welcomes back 20 letterwinners including 2010 preseason All-America selections Kyle Roller and Trent Whitehead, along with 2008 All-American Seth Maness, 2009 Freshman All-American Kevin Brandt, All C-USA second-teamer Brad Mincey and eighth round and NCAA Greenville Regional star Devin Harris.
Also stepping onto the diamond are eight new faces, which consist of junior college transfer Daniel Warzon (Young Harris), as well as seven freshmen: Bryan Bass, Chris Gosik, Jake Harris, D.J. Jauss, Tyler Joyner, Tanner Merritt and John Wooten.
Head Coach Billy Godwin and the Pirates will begin spring practice on Friday, Jan. 29 in preparation for the season opener against Virginia on Feb. 19, 2010.
2010 Baseball America Preseason Poll
1. Texas (50-16-1)
2. Virginia (49-15-1)
3. Louisiana State (56-17)
4. Cal. St. Fullerton (47-16)
5. Rice (43-18)
6. Georgia Tech (38-19-1)
7. Florida (42-22)
8. U.C. Irvine (45-15)
9. Florida State (45-18)
10. South Carolina (40-23)
11. TCU (40-18)
12. Coastal Carolina (47-16)
13. Louisville (47-18)
14. Arizona State (51-14)
15. Clemson (44-22)
16. Miami, Fla. (38-22)
17. Arkansas (41-24)
18. East Carolina (46-20)
19. San Diego (29-25)
20. North Carolina (48-18)
21. Southern Miss (40-26)
22. Georgia (38-22)
23. UCLA (27-29)
24. Mississippi (44-20)
25. Oregon State (37-19)