MOBILE, Ala. – The UL Lafayette trio of Jace Conrad, Carson Baranik and head coach Tony Robichaux along with Troy’s Marc Skinner were honored by the Sun Belt Conference on Tuesday night as the end of season awards were handed out at the 2014 Baseball Championship Family Night at Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala.
Conrad was named the league’s Player of the Year with Baranik being named the league’s Pitcher of the Year. Robichaux was named the Ron Maestri Coach of the Year and Troy’s Skinner picked up Freshman of the Year honors. All awards given were decided by a vote of the conference’s 10 baseball head coaches.
Conrad, a junior second baseman, was second in the league in hitting with a .367 average overall and a .398 average during conference play. The Lafayette, La. native posted a team best 32-game on-base streak and a 19-game hit streak during the season. Conrad was second in the league in hits with 79, third in runs scored (51) and runs batted in (53).
Conrad had 26-multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI games this season and committed only three errors in 263 chances as he becomes the first Ragin’ Cajun to win Player of the Year honors in the Sun Belt.
Baranik, a junior transfer, went 10-1 during the year with a 2.99 earned run average in 90.1 innings pitched. He started 14 games for the Cajuns allowing only 30 runs on 74 hits while striking out 66 on the season. Baranik has held opponents to a .222 batting average, ranking second in the league.
Baranik is the first Ragin’ Cajuns pitcher to earn Pitcher of the Year honors since Hunter Moody in 2006.
Troy’s Skinner claimed the Freshman of the Year award after ending the regular season with the league’s lowest ERA (1.50). He posted five saves on the season in 60 innings pitched. Skinner was 5-1 on the season for the Trojans in his 30 appearances.
He is the second Trojan to claim Freshman of the Year honors and first since 2009 (Tyler Ray).
Ragin’ Cajun skipper Tony Robichaux earned his fourth Sun Belt coaching accolade after guiding the Ragin’ Cajuns to an NCAA best and Sun Belt regular season record of 49 wins. The 49 wins were a school record for UL Lafayette as it claimed its first regular-season title since 2010.
Robichaux’s Cajuns enter the tournament as the top seed and look to win the program’s second overall tournament title and first since 1998.
The Ragin’ Cajuns led all teams with nine total selections between first- and second-team All-Conference, five coming on the All-SBC First Team.
Texas State and WKU each had four selections between the two All-Conference teams while Georgia State and Troy placed three student-athletes each between the two All-Conference teams.
The double-elimination formatted tournament begins play on Wednesday, May 21 at 9:00 a.m. with the first of four matchups. No. 4 Texas State and No. 5 WKU will hit the field followed by No. 1 UL Lafayette and No. 8 UL Monroe at 12:30 p.m. The afternoon session begins with No. 3 Arkansas State taking on No. 6 Troy at 4:00 p.m. followed by the day's final matchup between No. 2 UT Arlington and tournament host and No. 7 South Alabama at 7:30 p.m.
All games will be available via webstream on the Sun Belt Digital Network. The championship game will be aired on the Sun Belt Network and ESPN3.
2014 Sun Belt Baseball First Team All-Conference
Carson Baranik (UL Lafayette, Junior, SP)
Cody Boutte (UL Lafayette, Senior, SP)
Justin Hageman (WKU, Senior, SP)
Ian Tompkins (WKU, Junior, RP)
Joey Roach (Georgia State, Sophomore, C)
Nic Wilson (Georgia State, Senior, 1B)
Jace Conrad (UL Lafayette, Junior, 2B)
Blake Trahan (UL Lafayette, Sophomore, SS)
Ben Crumpton (UALR, Sr., 3B)
Chase Raffield (Georgia State, Senior, OF)
Caleb Adams (UL Lafayette, Junior, OF)
Ryan Bottger (UT Arlington, Junior, OF)
Matt Shortall (UT Arlington, Senior, DH)
Cory Geisler (Texas State, Sophomore, UTL)
2014 Sun Belt Baseball Second Team All-Conference
Austin Robichaux (UL Lafayette, Junior, SP)
Taylor Black (Texas State, RS-Junior, SP)
Austen Williams (Texas State, Junior, SP)
Marc Skinner (Troy, Freshman, RP)
Michael Strentz (UL Lafayette, Junior, C)
Ryan Church (WKU, Junior, 1B)
Garrett Pitts (Troy, Senior, 2B)
Garrett Mattlage (Texas State, Junior, SS)
Ryan Leonards (UL Lafayette, Senior, 3B)
Seth Harrison (UL Lafayette, Junior, OF)
Cole Gleason (South Alabama, Junior, OF)
Anderson Miller (WKU, Sophomore, OF)
David Hall (Troy, Junior, DH)
Tanner Rockwell (UALR, Junior, UTL)
2014 Sun Belt Baseball Player of the Year
Jace Conrad (UL Lafayette, Junior, 2B)
2014 Sun Belt Baseball Pitcher of the Year
Carson Baranik (UL Lafayette, Junior, SP)
2014 Sun Belt Baseball Freshman of the Year
Marc Skinner (Troy, Freshman, RP)
2014 Sun Belt Baseball Ron Maestri Coach of the Year
Tony Robichaux, UL Lafayette