The South Atlantic Conference Announces 2018 Baseball Preseason Poll & All-Conference

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Catawba has been selected as the South Atlantic Conference favorite for the 2018 baseball season, the league office announced today. It is the sixth consecutive year the Indians have received the top spot, as voted on by the league's head baseball coaches. Catawba had nine first place votes and a total of 99 points.

Lincoln Memorial was voted No. 2 in the poll with 90 points and one first place vote, while Newberry came in at No. 3 with 73 points. Tusculum came in fourth with 72 points, with Carson-Newman and Mars Hill tied for No. 5 with 58 points. Wingate was voted No. 7 with 48 points. Coker took the No. 8 spot with 40 points, followed by Lenoir-Rhyne with 34 points at No. 9 and Anderson at No. 10 with 22 points.

The South Atlantic Conference also announced its preseason All-SAC team. Mars Hill's Matt Honeycutt was named first team catcher, while Timmy Wages from Lincoln Memorial earned first team honors at first base. At second base was Kyle Smith from Catawba, at shortstop was Tyler Adams from Lincoln Memorial and at third base was Brett Langhorne from Carson-Newman.

Earning first team outfield honors were Luke Setzer from Catawba, Logan Augustine from Lincoln Memorial and Brett Brubaker from Mars Hill.

The first team starting pitchers were Hunter Shepherd from Catawba, Zac Brown from Mars Hill and Evan Estridge from Newberry.

Newberry's Ben Herring was voted first team designated hitter, while Griffin Hollifield from Coker was named first team relief pitcher.

The South Atlantic Conference baseball season gets underway on Thursday, Feb. 1.  The 2018 Pilot Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship is scheduled for April 26-30 at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tenn.

2018 SAC Baseball Preseason Poll

2018 SAC Baseball Preseason All-Conference

First Team
OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba
OF – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Brett Brubaker, Mars Hill
1B – Timmy Wages, Lincoln Memorial
2B – Kyle Smith, Catawba
SS – Tyler Adams, Lincoln Memorial
3B – Brett Langhorne, Carson-Newman
C –   Matt Honeycutt, Mars Hill
DH – Ben Herring, Newberry
SP – Hunter Shepherd, Catawba
SP – Zac Brown, Mars Hill
SP – Evan Estridge, Newberry
RP – Griffin Hollifield, Coker

Second Team
OF – William Thomas, Anderson
OF – Mason Ewers, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Ty Andrus, Wingate
1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba
2B – Daulton Martin, Tusculum
SS – Tyler Miller, Anderson
3B – Christian Stampler, Mars Hill
C –   Andrew Llewellyn, Wingate
DH – Bradley Brown, Wingate
SP – Jared Mathewson, Mars Hill
SP – Will Gardner, Carson-Newman
SP – Hunter Hamilton, Wingate
RP – Dominic Morabito, Lincoln Memorial

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