University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Three Golden Eagles Named to Preseason C-USA Team
1/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Conference USA has announced its 2017 preseason baseball awards, as chosen by the league's 12 head coaches and three Southern Miss players, left-handed pitcher Kirk McCarty and infielders Taylor Braley and Dylan Burdeaux, earned spots on the preseason all-league team. The Golden Eagles also were chosen third in the C-USA preseason poll.
McCarty, who moved from Sunday to Saturday in the Golden Eagles' weekend rotation, finished 8-1 with a 3.15 earned run average. His 89 strikeouts ranked fourth in the league.
Braley should be back at 100 percent this spring after injuring his knee on April 2 and missing the rest of the season. He held a .323 batting mark with 10 home runs and 31 RBI at the time, becoming the first Southern Miss player since 2013 to reach the double-digit mark in homers.
Burdeaux, a 2016 All-C-USA selection as an outfielder is moving to first base. He led the league with 59 runs scored, while ranking third in hits (86), tenth in slugging percentage (.529) and 12th in RBI (52). Burdeaux topped the Golden Eagles with 11 home runs, while hitting .335 with 13 doubles.
The Golden Eagles, which received three first-place votes among the 12 coaches, placed third behind Rice and Florida Atlantic and ahead of Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech, Charlotte and FIU, which tied for sixth, Marshall, UAB, Middle Tennessee and UTSA, which were tied for 10th, and WKU.
The 2017 Conference USA baseball season begins Friday, February 17, with the Golden Eagles opening their schedule at home against Northeastern. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
Last season, C-USA sent four teams to the NCAA Baseball Championship last season and ranked No. 5 among all conferences in 2016.
2017 PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS
(as selected by C-USA's head coaches)
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Rice (5)
2. Florida Atlantic (4)
3. Southern Miss (3)
4. Old Dominion
5. Louisiana Tech
6. Charlotte
FIU
8. Marshall
9. UAB
10. Middle Tennessee
UTSA
12. WKU
(first place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ford Proctor, Rice (Sophomore, IF)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Glenn Otto, Rice (Junior, Right-hander)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P - Kirk McCarty, Jr., Southern Miss
P - Ricardo Salinas, Jr., Rice
P - Casey Sutton, Sr., Louisiana Tech
RP - Glenn Otto, Jr., Rice
C - Brent Diaz, Jr., Louisiana Tech
IF - Taylor Braley, Jr., Southern Miss
IF - Dylan Burdeaux, Sr., Southern Miss
IF - Brett Netzer, Jr., Charlotte
IF - Ford Proctor, So., Rice
IF - Logan Sherer, Sr., Charlotte
OF - Jesse Baker, Sr., UTSA
OF - T.J. Nichting, Sr., Charlotte
OF - Charlie Warren, Sr., Rice
DH/UT - Sean Labsan, Sr., Florida Atlantic
DH/UT - Jonathan Washam, Sr., Louisiana Tech
