University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Picked Fourth by C-USA Coaches
1/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss baseball team has been chosen to finish fourth this season in Conference USA in a vote by the league's coaches, while senior designated hitter Matt Durst (Whitehouse, Texas) earned preseason all-league honors.
Rice was chosen as the unanimous favorite to win the league's championship. The Owls have won either the regular season or tournament championship in each of its nine years as a member of C-USA. John Clay Reeves has been chosen as the preseason Player of the Year, while Rice junior left-hander Blake Fox was named the preseason Pitcher of the Year.
Durst led the Golden Eagles in hitting last season with a .277 batting average to go along with team highs of six home runs and 40 runs batted in. He has started as the team's designated hitter in 48 of 56 games played, adding nine doubles and 19 walks. Durst was the first offensive triple-crown winner at the school since B.A. Vollmuth led the Golden Eagles in average, home runs and RBI during the 2010 season.
Following Rice in the predicted order of finish for the schools, was FIU, Old Dominion and then the Golden Eagles, followed by UTSA, Florida Atlantic, UAB, Middle Tennessee, WKU, Marshall, Charlotte and Louisiana Tech.
C-USA's 20th baseball season gets underway on February 13 as the Golden Eagles open the year with Murray State in a 4 p.m., contest at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The conference tournament returns to Hattiesburg for the second consecutive year and is scheduled for May 20-24. Tickets for the Southern Miss home baseball season as well as the 2015 C-USA Tournament are available by going online at SouthernMissTickets.com, as well as calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or by visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office weekdays during normal business hours.
2015 PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS
(as selected by C-USA's head coaches)
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. - Rice (12)
2. - FIU
3. - Old Dominion
4. - Southern Miss
5. - UTSA
6. - Florida Atlantic
7. - UAB
8. - Middle Tennessee
9. - WKU
10. - Marshall
11. - Charlotte
12. - Louisiana Tech
(first place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
John Clay Reeves, Rice (Senior, Catcher)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Blake Fox, Rice (Junior, Left-hander)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P - Blake Fox, Jr. Rice
P - Alex Luna, Sr. UAB
P - Chris Mourelle,So. FIU
RP - Matt Ditman, Jr. Rice
C - John Clay Reeves, Sr., Rice
IF - Josh Anderson, Sr., FIU
IF - Ryan Church, Sr., WKU
IF - P.J. Higgins, Jr., Old Dominion
IF - Taylor Love, Jr., Louisiana Tech
IF - Stephen Kerr, So., Florida Atlantic
OF - Jared Allen, Sr., Middle Tennessee
OF - Brendon Sanger, Jr., Florida Atlantic
OF - Nick Walker, So. ,Old Dominion
DH/UT - Matt Durst, Sr., Southern Miss
