With the annual 2022 Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship slated to begin on Friday, the All-GSC Team and major award honorees have been released. Lee's Jack Nedrow was named the Freshman of the Year. The hard-throwing right hander will take an 8-4 record and 3.84 ERA in the conference tournament. He has fanned 58 batters and walked 18 in 79.2 innings of work.
Redshirt freshman Sam Fulton earned the relief pitcher's slot on the second team. The 6-foot-10 right hander has a 3.53 ERA with a 5-2 record and four saves. He has appeared in 18 games and hurled 51 innings with 58 strikeouts compared to just six free passes. Redshirt junior Miguel Alba joined Nedrow as a pitcher on the GSC first team. Alba toed the rubber 13 times and finished with a 4-2 record and 3.61 ERA. In 12 starts and 67 innings, he recorded 70 punch outs and walked 39.
Lee sophomore outfielder Dylan Standifer landed a position on the second team. Standifer paced the Lee hitters with a .372 batting average. He also has a team-leading 67 hits, 14 doubles and 51 RBI.
Auburn Montgomery, Lee's first round opponent in the tournament, had two players named to the All-GSC second team. Pitcher Luke Turner was 6-3 during the regular season with a 3.39 ERA. In 13 starts he tallied 69 innings, fanned 59, walked 24 and allowed 26 earned runs. Turner was joined on the second team by his senior catcher Zach Feaster. He started 39 games and batted .289 with six homers and 23 RBI. Feaster helped direct the Warhawks to an impressive .969 fielding average. The Flames hang their hats on a .991 fielding mark.
In other awards EJ Doskow, Valdosta State and Sam Kuchinski, Montevallo were named Co-Player of the Year. Shorter's Jonathan Pintaro, was the Pitcher of the Year, and Delta State's Rodney Batts was selected the Coach of the Year.
Hoping to build on the momentum that has carried his team over the final 34 games of the regular season, Coach Mark Brew will enter his Lee University team into the 2022 Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship that will be played at Choccolocco Park and co-hosted by the City of Oxford, Alabama. It is the third time the championship will be played at Choccolocco Park. The tournament will be held May 6-10, 2022. The top eight teams in the GSC baseball standings qualified for the tournament, which is a double-elimination format. The tournament winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship.
The Flames won 15 of their final 19 regular-season games, including a three-game sweep over West Florida this past weekend. A combination of solid pitching, clutch hitting, and excellent fielding have been keys to Lee's climb in the GSC standings and the final 17-12 total, good enough for a fifth seed in the tourney. On the other hand, the first-round opponent, Auburn Montgomery, holds an 18-12 GSC mark and is the fourth seed. The Flames and Warhawks are slated to play at 5 p.m. on Friday (Eastern).
Said Coach Brew, "We closed the season playing really well. We wanted to be playing our best headed in to post-season and I feel like we have hit a stride. This tournament will be a grueling test of toughness to deal with this double elimination bracket. He field is as wide open as I can remember. We will have a tough opponent in AUM in the opening round and this is the second year in a row we have opened with them. They have plenty of experience back from last year's team and it will be a big opening game challenge for us. We are excited about the opportunity that is in front of us and look forward to kicking things off in Oxford on Friday."
Delta State is the top seed and will face No. 8 Shorter. Valdosta State is second seeded and drew No. 7 West Florida. Montevallo grabbed the No.3 position and is pitted against Alabama Huntsville. A victory by the Flames in the first round would send the Brew crew against the winner of Delta State and Shorter on Saturday. A loss would drop the Flames into the loser's bracket against the loser of Delta State and Shorter.
The Flames and Warhawks met back on March 4-5 at Larry Carpenter Stadium with Lee dropping the first game of the series and then bouncing back to win the final two games. The two clubs were powers in their NAIA days. Marty Lovrich has been a part of AUM baseball for 30 years. He served as an assistant under QV Lowe for 22 years, left to take the head job at Southern Poly for three years and then returned to take the head job when Lowe retired eight years ago. Records show the rivals playing 48 times with the Flames holding a 30-18 edge in the series.
Jared Demkowicz paces the club in homers (8) and slugging percentage (.591). Thomas Zazzaro has helped set the table from his lead-off spot by drawing 47 bases-on-balls and scoring 42 runs. He also has stolen 15 bases in 17 attempts. Zach Dew is the top Warhawk hitter at .339 and has eight doubles. Brody Syer is just behind at .337. He is leading the team in hits (57), homers (7), RBI (55) slugging (.515) and on-base (.433).
Pitching is always a key. The Flames have starter Cameron Land (4-3, 4.68 ERA), Miguel Alba, and Jack Nedrow in their weekend rotation. Sam Fulton, Sean Casteel (3-0), and Alan Zhang Carter (1.59 ERA) with 22 strikeouts in 11.1 innings are leaders out of bullpen.
Tournament Notes:
Tickets for the GSC Baseball Championship will be $10/day are available online and at the Choccolocco Park box office. Parking for the event will be $5/day. All games of the 2022 GSC Baseball Championship will be streamed on FloBaseball. Fans are required to purchase a monthly subscription through FloSports. Preferred GSC pricing and directions to signup are available. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time.
