University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Dozier and Sutton Earn Preseason All-C-USA Honors
1/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 30, 2008
IRVING, Texas - Conference- USA's coaches honored Southern Miss baseball players Brian Dozier and Trey Sutton by selecting them to the preseason All-Conference Team in their preseason awards that were released today by the conference office.
"Dozier and Sutton are two of the best players in this league and we are looking for big performances out of them this season," head coach Corky Palmer said. "They are both very deserving of this honor."
Dozier is a junior from Fulton, Miss who will start his third season at shortstop this season for the Golden Eagles. Many consider him the best fielding shortstop in the conference. He has started 108 consecutive games, dating back to the 2006 season. Last season he hit .368 with 17 and four homeruns while driving in 39 runs.
In 2006, he earned Freshman All-American honors and was names to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team and the All-NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional Team.
Sutton, a senior infielder from Hattiesburg, earned NCBWA All- American honors as well as his third consecutive All-Conference USA Team selection in 2007. In his junior campaign, Sutton led the Golden Eagles at the plate hitting .368 in 57 games with 29 extra base hits, including eight home runs.
In addition to his performance on the field Sutton was equally successful in the classroom last season, earning Academic All-American honors by ESPN the Magazine and CoSIDA.
The coaches also picked the Golden Eagles to finish third this season in the preseason conference poll.
"We are excited to be picked in the upper half of the league in one of the better leagues in the country," Palmer said. "I also think it is important to remember that it is not where you start but where you finish."
The preseason awards are voted on by the nine head coaches of C-USA baseball programs.
Southern Miss will open practice Friday afternoon for the first time this season and will open the newly renovated Pete Taylor Park on February 22 vs. Lipscomb University.
