SAN MARCOS, TEXAS – Little Rock’s duo of Ryan Scott and head coach Chris Curry along with South Alabama’s Kevin Hill and UL Lafayette’s Nick Lee were honored by the Sun Belt Conference on Tuesday night as the end of the season awards were handed out at the 2016 Baseball Championship Family Night at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos, Texas.
Scott was named the league’s Student-Athlete of the Year while his head coach, Curry, was named the Ron Maestri Coach of the Year. USA’s Hill was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year, his second consecutive honor, and Lee of UL Lafayette was named the Freshman of the Year. All awards were voted upon by the league’s 11 head coaches.
Scott had a season to remember for the Trojans as he hit .433 for the year to lead all Sun Belt hitters, while leading the nation for nearly a month in the same category. Scott is second in the NCAA in batting average and is ranked tenth in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and he leads the Sun Belt in both. He won three Sun Belt Student-Athlete of the Week honors this past season which is the most for any Trojan in program history.
In addition to his average, Scott leads the Sun Belt in hits (90), runs scored (54), runs batted in (63) and total bases (146). His 90 hits are a new Little Rock single-season school record.
USA’s Hill becomes the first Sun Belt pitcher to ever win back-to-back Pitcher of the Year awards. The redshirt senior finished the 2016 regular season with an 8-1 record in 14 appearances for the Jaguars. He tallied 109.2 innings pitched with an ERA of 2.38, ranking fourth in the league. He struck out 117 and walked 28 on the year.
Hill’s eight wins were tied for second in the league and gave him 17 in the past two seasons.
The Ragin’ Cajuns earned another Freshman of the Year as Nick Lee was this year’s recipient. Last season, Gunner Leger earned the award from the Ragin’ Cajuns pitching staff. Lee was second on the Cajuns in ERA (3.24) and tied for the team lead in wins at six. He pitched 75 innings this season with 68 strikeouts, which led the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Little Rock’s Curry earned his first Sun Belt Coach of the Year honor after leading his Trojans to their highest ever Sun Belt championship seed (No. 3) and a school record 17 conference wins. Little Rock finished the regular season with a 32-24 record and a 17-13 record in conference play. The Trojans are making their first trip to the tournament since 2013.
Curry’s Trojans were picked to finish ninth in the preseason coaches’ poll as they look for their first tournament title since 2011.
The 2016 Sun Belt Baseball Championship begins play on Wednesday, May 25 at 9 a.m. CT with the first of four matchups. No. 6 Georgia Southern and No. 3 Little Rock will hit the field followed by No. 7 UT Arlington and No. 2 South Alabama at 12:30 p.m. CT. The afternoon session begins with No. 4 Troy taking on No. 5 Texas State at 4:00 p.m. CT followed by the day's final matchup between No. 8 Arkanas State and No. 1 UL Lafayette at 7:30 p.m. CT.
All games on Wednesday will be available via web stream on SunBeltSports.org. The remaining games, including Sunday’s championship, will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
All-Sun Belt Baseball First Team
Gunner Leger (UL Lafayette, Sophomore, SP, Exercise Science)
Kevin Hill (South Alabama, RS-Senior, SP, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Grant Bennett (Troy, Senior, SP, Social Science)
Dylan Moore (UL Lafayette, Sophomore, RP, Political Science-Pre Law)
Brady Cox (UT Arlington, Junior, C, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Tanner Hill (Texas State, Senior, 1B, General Studies)
Darien McLemore (UT Arlington, Senior, 2B, Business Management)
Drew LaBounty (South Alabama, RS-Sophomore, SS, Leisure Studies)
Tanner Ring (Arkansas State, Senior, 3B, Exercise Science)
Ryan Scott (Little Rock, Senior, OF, Management)
Kyle Clement (UL Lafayette, Senior, OF, General Studies)
Cole Billingsley (South Alabama, RS-Junior, OF, Sports Management)
Cory Geisler (Texas State, Senior, UTIL, Applied Arts and Sciences)
Dalton Thomas (Little Rock, Junior, DH, Undecided)
All-Sun Belt Baseball Second Team
Evan Challenger (Georgia Southern, Junior, SP, Sport Management)
Kadon Simmons (UT Arlington, Junior, SP, Business/Information Systems)
Lucas Brown (Troy, Senior, SP, Criminal Justice)
Pasquale Mazzoccoli (Texas State, Senior, RP, Applied Arts and Sciences)
Joey Roach (Georgia State, Senior, C, Actuarial Science)
Ryan Cleveland (Georgia Southern, Junior, 1B, Justice Studies)
Hayden Martin (Little Rock, Senior, 2B, Economics/Finance)
Matt Vernon (Appalachian State, Junior, SS, Communication Studies)
Jarrett Hood (Georgia State, Junior, 3B, Health & Physical Education)
Quintin Rohrbaugh (UT Arlington, Junior, OF, Business Finance)
Granger Studdard (Texas State, Junior, OF, Criminal Justice)
Joey Denison (Troy, Junior, OF, Global Business)
Joe Schrimpf (Arkansas State, Junior, UTIL, Business Administration)
Colton Turner (UT Arlington, Junior, DH, Sports Management)
Sun Belt Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year
Ryan Scott (Little Rock, Senior, OF, Management)
Sun Belt Baseball Pitcher of the Year
Kevin Hill (South Alabama, RS-Senior, SP, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Sun Belt Baseball Freshman of the Year
Nick Lee (UL Lafayette, Freshman, SP, Petroleum Engineering)
Sun Belt Baseball Ron Maestri Coach of the Year
Chris Curry, Little Rock