2012-13 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook | Seite 38

Eilte 15 Award Ryan McNulty, Lander

Honorable Mention: Frank Ambrosino, Georgia Southwestern; Justin Appel, Augusta State; Jacob Beauchamp, North Georgia; Daniel Bick, Georgia College; Andrew Brodbeck, Flagler; Les Cromer, Georgia Southwestern; Kip Custer, Augusta State; R. J. Dennard, Armstrong; Zade Denton, UNC Pembroke; Austin Dunn, Lander; Max Gagnon, UNC Pembroke; Chris Hyatt, Lander; Weston Lawling, Lander; Erik Lunde, Lander; Casey Maloney, Armstrong; Hart Mizell, Columbus State; Travis Naraine, North Georgia; Jarrod Taylor, Georgia Southwestern; Tom Valichka, Young Harris.

strong in his 34 seasons as the head coach of Pirate baseball. Yesterday, in the first game of the series with the Braves, Armstrong won its 1,500th game in program history.

Armstrong will honor coach Roberts for his milestone achievement and the program’ s milestone win in a pre-game ceremony on Sunday, April 28, prior to the Pirates’ 1:00 p. m. Peach Belt Conference baseball game against Lander. All former Armstrong players are invited back to Savannah and Pirate Field to join the university in honoring both coach Roberts and the entire baseball program on its outstanding accomplishments.

PBC Baseball Coaching Milestones Reached in 2013

Four PBC Baseball Players Selected in Major League Draft

NEW YORK, NY – Four Peach Belt Conference baseball players realized their ultimate dreams over the weekend as they were selected in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft. USC Aiken had three players selected in the draft with Taylor Grover, Zach Hayden and Josh Miller. Columbus State’ s Cameron Griffin was also selected. CSU signee Tyler Dial was also drafted; he signed an NLI with the Cougars last fall but has yet to begin school.

Grover was the first PBC players selected in the draft as he was taken with the 293rd pick in the 10th round by the Boston Red Sox. A junior righthanded reliever from North Augusta, S. C., he was a consensus All-American in 2013 with selections to the ABCA, Daktronics and NCBWA teams. Grover led the Pacers and the Peach Belt Conference with 11 saves on the 2013 season. The 11 saves places him in the top-10 in the category nationally. The First-Team All-Peach Belt Conference selection owned a perfect 5-0 record on the year with a 0.92 earned run average. He made 31 appearances in the 2013 season, pitching a total of 29.1 innings. Grover’ s foes hit just. 154 against him this past season. He had 37 strikeouts in his 29.1 innings pitched. Grover has 20 saves in his Pacer career.

Zach Hayden was taken with the 680th pick in the 23rd round by the Minnesota Twins. A junior from Martinez, Ga., the 6-1, 220, right-handed reliever made 15 appearances and one start this season. He was 2-1 in his 21 innings pitched, striking out 41 – the fourth-highest total on the team. Hayden averaged just under two strikeouts per inning pitched.

The Pacers’ Josh Miller was also selected in the 23rd round as the Oakland A’ s took him with the 701st pick. A senior from Chapin, S. C., Miller played in 53 games this season for the Pacers. He started 52 at either catcher or left field, hittin. 355( 76-for-214). He scored 53 runs, while driving in 46. The 53 runs place him in the top-15 in the PBC in the category. Miller obtained 24 extra-base hits on 18 doubles and six home runs. The 18 doubles place him in the top-10 in the PBC in the category. The two-time All-Peach Belt Conference selection collected a total of 112 bases this season. The Daktronics Second-Team All-Region selection had 14 steals on the year. The senior has 293 putouts and 25 assists in the field. The two-time All-Region selection had 23 multiple hit games and a team third-best 15 multiple RBI games.

Cameron Griffin was taken with the 1016th pick in the 34th round by the New York Mets. A senior, he played three years in the field for the Cougars before moving to the mound in 2013. In 15 appearances, Griffin tossed 20.2 innings out of the bullpen overpowering batters with his fastball. He allowed just three earned runs while opponents hit just. 183 against him. The McDonough native struck out 23 hitters averaging over 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Overall, he posted a 2-1 record for the Cougars. Over his four-year career, Griffin played in 155 games collecting 127 hits at the plate for a. 263 average. He also added 10 homeruns and 74 RBIs for the Cougars.

More than 120 PBC baseball players have been drafted by Major League Baseball.

Three PBC Baseball Players Named Academic All-Americans

TOWSON, MD – USC Aiken’ s Bill Gerstenslager, Young Harris’ David Atwood and North Georgia’ s Kenny Ballavance were named to the Capitol

One NCAA Division II Baseball Academic All-America team, as selected by the Sports Information Directors of America( CoSIDA). The award is generally regarded as the highest honor an individual student-athlete can receive.

Only 14 players in Peach Belt history have achieved the honor of an Academic All-America selection. The PBC set a record in 2012 with four selections, the three in 2013 is the second-most for the league in one year.

The Academic All-American honor concludes an impressive senior season for Gerstenslager.

A First-Team Daktronics All-American, Gerstenslager( Solon, Ohio / Mercyhurst) led the Pacers with a team-best. 380( 81-for-213) batting average.

He was tops among all Pacers and the Peach Belt Conference with 21 doubles on the 2013 season. The 21 doubles are currently in the top- 10 in the nation.

The Pacer designated hitter led USC Aiken with 30 extra-base hits on the year with the 21 doubles, seven home runs and two triples. He collected 127 bases and scored 53 runs to go along with his 54 RBIs.

A Tino Martinez Award semifinalist and a Daktronics First-Team All-Region selection, Gerstenslager was also recently named to the NCB- WA All-Southeast Region Second-Team, the ABCA All-Southeast Region Second-Team, the Peach Belt Conference All-Conference First-Team, the Peach Belt Conference All-Academic Team and the Capital One Academic NCAA Division II Baseball District Three First-Team.

Gerstenslager is the second Pacer baseball player to garner Academic All-America honors, joining USC Aiken Athletic Hall of Fame member Ashley Farr, who was named to the Academic All-America team in 2003. In addition to his Academic All-America honors, Farr was also named a First-Team All-American by the ABCA in 2003.

In the classroom, Gerstenslager owns a 3.756 grade point average as a Business Administration major.

Atwood becomes Young Harris’ first-ever student-athlete ever named to the first team for the prestigious program. Atwood was named to second team in 2012 while men’ s soccer player Wezly Barnard was named to the second team in 2012 and third team in 2011.

The 5-foot-11 junior outfielder from Waynesville, N. C. batted. 306( 59-of-193) for the Mountain Lions in 2013. He was second on the team with 46 RBI, third in triples( 2) and stolen bases( 8) and fourth with 11 doubles. He had a. 446 slugging percentage and a. 382 on-base percentage. Atwood is ranked 11th in the Peach Belt in hit by pitches( 9), 17th in RBI and 18th in triples.

Atwood has named to the President’ s List( 4.0 GPA) for the past four consecutive semesters, He is also a member of the Young Harris College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and is a member of the Alpha Chi and Phi Theta Kappa honor societies in addition to being the vice president of the YHC Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Atwood has a 3.829 cumulative grade point average as a biology major.

A senior from Stone Mountain, Ga., Bellavance was named to the

Second Team as an outfielder. He wrapped up his four-year career at North Georgia with a career record in a Saints uniform of 110-94. This season, Bellavance struggled with injuries but still provided a steady bat and glove in the lineup. In 25 games this season, he hit. 301 with 15 runs batted in( RBI). He also slugged. 301 while having an onbase percentage of. 342. Bellavance was named PBC All-Conference in 2011 and 2012 and to the PBC All-Academic Team three times. He was named to the All-Southeast Region in 2010 and 2011.

Earlier this year, Bellavance was named to the PBC Presidental Honor Roll and was awarded with the North Georgia Scholar Athlete of the Year and the Male Athlete of the Year at North Georgia’ s Senior Banquet. Bellavance graduated with a degree in finance while carrying a grade point average of 3.97. He is a member of the Beta Alpha Psi Accounting and Finance Honor Society as well as the Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society and is a member of North Georgia’ s Mike Cottrell College of Business Honors Program. He is also a two-time PBC Gold Level Scholar Athlete. Named to the PBC Presidential Honor Roll all four years, he was named in Who’ s Who Among College Students and was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society. Bellavance served as the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee where he spearheaded the school’ s Make-A-Wish fundraising efforts, was named to the President’ s List for six semesters and served as a tutor in the business school.

Bellavance was named the PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2012-13 season, the highest individual award the Peach Belt presents each year.

To be eligible for Academic All-America ® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G. P. A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his / her current institution and be nominated by his / her sports information director.

Since the program’ s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 16,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

Aiken, Amrstrong and Georgia College to Play in NCAA Baseball Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS, IND – USC Aiken, Armstrong Atlantic State and Georgia College will see their 2013 baseball seasons continue as the NCAA released the 48-team bracket for the national championship on Sunday night. The three will compete at the Southeast Regional, which will be hosted by Mount Olive College starting this Thursday, May 16.

The championship provides for eight regional sites hosting six teams. All regionals are double-elimination tournaments and will be played May 16-19. Regional champions will advance to the double-elimination championship finals May 25-June 1 at the USA Baseball National