Saturday, February 4, 2017

SWAC Announces Preseason Baseball Honors

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Alabama State (Eastern) and Arkansas Pine Bluff (Western) have been chosen by the Southwestern Athletic Conference head baseball coaches and sport information directors to win the Eastern and Western divisions as the conference announced its preseason honors on Monday.

For the second consecutive season, defending SWAC Baseball Tournament Champion Alabama State (74 points,14 first place votes) has been pegged to win the Eastern division. ASU, which is coming off a historic 2016 season where the Hornets went a perfect 24-0 in SWAC play, returns the majority of what was a dominant offense last year. Jackson State was picked to finish second with 58 points, Alcorn State (41 points), Alabama A&M (35 points) and Mississippi Valley State (17 points) rounded out the projections for the eastern division.

The Western division is predicted to be very close this season. Arkansas Pine Bluff earned 58 points and was chosen as the preseason favorite. Grambling State and Texas Southern were predicted to each finish in second with 53 points, Southern (37 points) and Prairie View A&M (24 points) followed in the projected order of finish.

Sothern’s Harris, Grambling State’s O’Bear and Drain Earn Individual Accolades

Southern outfielder Dondrayas Harris was selected by the league's coaches and sports information directors as the preseason favorite for player of the year.  The Panama City, Fla. native hit .346 last season, while racking up 47 hits, totaling 30 RBIs.

Grambling State had two players chosen for preseason individual honors.  Pitcher Issac O’Bear was selected as the preseason favorite for pitcher of the year, and infielder Wesley Drain was pegged for the preseason defensive player of the year. O’Bear went 7-3 on the mound for the Tigers last season, while striking out 61 batters and totaling a 4.85 ERA.

Drain had a .263 batting average a season ago, while totaling 50 hits and 31 RBIs for the Tigers.  The entire 2017 preseason awards list is below:
PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Dondrayas Harris, Outfielder, Southern
PRESEASON PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Issac O'Bear, Pitcher, Grambling State
PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Wesley Drain, Infielder, Grambling State

PRESEASON ALL SWAC BASEBALL - FIRST TEAM
1B
Chris Biocic (Alabama State)
2B
Eriq White (Alabama State)
3B
Ray Hernandez (Alabama State)
SS
Cornelius Copeland (Jackson State)
OF
Carlos Ocasio (Alabama State)
OF
Dondrayas Harris (Southern)
OF
Yamil Pagan (Alabama State)
OF
CJ Newsome (Jackson State)
C
Hunter Allen (Alabama State)
DH
Diandre Amion (Alabama State)
SP
Tyler Howe (Alabama State)
SP
Issac O'Bear (Grambling State)
SP
Miguel Yrigoyen (Jackson State)
RP
Brandon Marsonek (Alabama A&M)
PRESEASON ALL SWAC BASEBALL - SECOND TEAM
 1B 
Jesus Santana (Jackson State)
2B
Wallace Rios (Alcorn State)
2B
Richard Alamo (Texas Southern)
3B
Daniel Barnett (Grambling State)
SS
Wesley Drain (Grambling State)
OF
Kamren Dukes (Texas Southern)
OF
Jaqueese Moore (Arkansas Pine Bluff)
OF
Bryce Brown (Jackson State)
OF
Cody Den Beste (Prairie View A&M)
C
Johan Majica (Grambling State)
DH
Julian Jones (Arkansas Pine Bluff)
DH
Sam Campbell (Jackson State)
SP
Seth Oliver (Texas Southern)
SP
Brandon Caples (Alabama State)
RP
Austin Bizzle (Alabama State)
RP
Conrado Skepple (Alcorn State)

East Division
Points (first-place)
West Division
Points (first-place)
Alabama State
74 (14)
Arkansas Pine Bluff
58 (7)
Jackson State
58 (1)
Grambling State
53 (3)
Alcorn State
41 
Texas Southern
53 (3)
Alabama A&M
35
Southern
37 (1)
Mississippi Valley State
17
Prairie View A&M
24 (1)

CREDIT: SWAC MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS

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