COLLEGE BASEBALL: Bears’ St. Clair named best pitcher in SAC

HobbsDailyReport.com

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Thomas St. Clair earned two nice things on Wednesday for Lenoir-Rhyne University.

Earlier in the day, he was named the top pitcher in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC), and he went out Wednesday night and picked up his 10^th win of the year by shutting down red-hot UNC Pembroke, 10-2.

UNC Pembroke came in riding a 14-game win streak, but St. Clair stopped that.

St. Clair was named first-team All-SAC and is the first hurler in LRU school history to win SAC Pitcher of the Year.

Bears junior outfielder Marcus Shoemaker, from Colfax, was named to the league’s Gold Glove team.

St. Claire (10-4), a senior from Winston-Salem, had an ERA of 2.21 entering his start on Wednesday night. He was leading the league in strikeouts (111) and ranked third in the nation in that category.

St. Clair struck out 17 in a 9-0 complete game victory in February, setting a new school single-game record for Ks.

Shoemaker was second in hitting for the Bears through Tuesday at .370 with 70 hits in 46 games. He had hit three home runs with 30 RBIs and had a fielding percentage in left field of 1.000.

ALL-SOUTH ATLANTIC CONFERENCE

First team

OF – Luke Setzer, Catawba

OF – Logan Augustine, Lincoln Memorial

OF – Daymon Totherow, Newberry

1B – Timmy Wages, Lincoln Memorial

2B – Hunter Merrill, Mars Hill

SS – Tyler Adams, Lincoln Memorial

3B – John Topoleski, Tusculum

C – Zach Almond, Catawba

DH – Ben Herring, Newberry

SP – Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne

SP – Zack Kelly, Newberry

SP – Ethan Carpenter, Tusculum

RP – Bryan Blanton, Catawba

Second team

OF – Ryan Addington, Carson-Newman

OF – Brett Brubaker, Mars Hill

OF – William Thomas, Anderson

1B – Nick Lacina, Tusculum

2B – Kyle Smith, Catawba

SS – Jeremy Simpson, Catawba

3B – Eric Kalman, Lincoln Memorial

C – Greg Jones, Carson-Newman

DH – Nick Coble, Catawba

SP – Hunter Shepherd, Catawba

SP –Tim Hardy, Tusculum

SP – Brandon Jean, Lincoln Memorial

RP – Griffin Hollifield, Coker

GOLD GLOVE

RF – Daymon Totherow, Newberry

CF – Danton Hyman, Newberry

LF – Marcus Shoemaker, Lenoir-Rhyne

1B – Chance Bowden, Catawba

2B – Cody Ezzell, Newberry

SS – Jeremy Simpson, Catawba

3B – John Topoleski, Tusculum

C – Jeff Sneed, Newberry

P – Zac Brown, Mars Hill

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Luke Setzer, Catawba

PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Thomas St. Clair, Lenoir-Rhyne

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Hunter Shepherd, Catawba

CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR

Jim Gantt, Catawba

Jeff Sziksai, Lincoln Memorial

— Reported by LRU Sports Information