2017 Baseball
All-Conference Team
bottom of the seventh that scored UNG’s fourth run.
Simpson went 3-for-4 for Catawba while Kyle Smith was 2-for-
5. Only one of Catawba’s 10 hits went for extra bases.
North Georgia makes their first Division II World Series appear-
ance in their third NCAA Tournament. Their first-round opponent
and game time is yet to be determined. The double-elimination
tournament begins on Saturday with all games being played at the
Ballpark at Grand Prairie.
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Four PBC Baseball Players Named All-American
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AUGUSTA, GA – Four Peach Belt Conference baseball players have OF
been named All-Americans as the D2CCA and NCBWA released their OF
teams. Georgia College’s Brandon Benson was named a first-team SP
All-American by both organizations while USC Aiken’s Joseph Beni- SP
tez was named third team by both. GC’s Cal Gentry and Armstrong SP
SP
State’s Ryan Patterson were named to the D2CCA team.
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The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)
selected their team while the Division II Conference Commissioner’s
Association (D2CCA) team is selected by sports information direc-
tors.
Benson pulls in his first All-America honors based on one of
the best seasons in the storied history of Georgia College Baseball.
The senior hit .395 with 22 home runs, 79 RBIs and 74 runs scored.
The consensus Region Player of the Year and Peach Belt Conference
(PBC) Player of the Year, he tallied an .819 slugging percentage
and .464 on-base percentage. The shortstop ended his career on a
17-game hit streak and tallied 22 multi-RBI games on the season,
including seven with four RBIs or more.
A finalist for the Brett Tomko Award, Benitez posted an 11-3
mark on the season with a 2.63 ERA. His 11 wins tied a school
record. Benitez, the PBC Pitcher of the Year and an ABCA, D2CCA
and NCBWA first-team all-region honoree, tossed a school-record
135 strikeouts. The Crofton, Md., native established a school record
with 116.1 innings pitched and held opponents to a .231 batting
average. He had at least 10 strikeouts in a game five times, includ-
ing a season-high 12 on Feb. 18 at Mount Olive. Benitez recorded
double-digit strikeout games against the Trojans, Armstrong State,
Lander, Francis Marion and Catawba.
Patterson had a career season as a senior for the Pirates as the
Snellville, Ga., native led the Pirates offensively in 2017, hitting
.377 with seven home runs and 62 RBI. He ranked fifth in the
league in RBI, eighth in walks and tied both an Armstrong State
and Peach Belt Conference single season record this year with three
grand slam home runs. He is the 50th All-American in Armstrong
State University baseball history and the first since Ethan Bader
was a third-team All-American honoree from the ABCA in 2013.
Gentry led the PBC with a .441 batting average, tied for the
fifth-highest single-season average in PBC history and tied for fifth
2016-17
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First Team
Mason McClellan
Columbus State
Michael Bell
North Georgia
Cal Gentry
Georgia College
Brandon Benson
Georgia College
Brian Perreira
USC Aiken
Ryan Patterson
Armstrong State
Zach Odom
Young Harris
Michael Gouge
North Georgia
Mitchell Price
USC Aiken
Dylan Jones
Flagler
Mike Warren
Armstrong State
Joseph Benitez
USC Aiken
Steven Bower
North Georgia
Dylan Peppers
North Georgia
Caleb Kutsche
Columbus State
Kyle Ramsey
UNC Pembroke
Second Team
Sebastian Samuels Montevallo
Ethan Baucom
UNC Pembroke
Caleb Ledbetter
Montevallo
Devin Gearhart
North Georgia
Alex Kranick
Georgia Southwestern
Connor Hoover
North Georgia
Brandon Purcell
Georgia College
Bill Leroy
North Georgia
Ethan Crout
Flagler
Jarratt Mobley
UNC Pembroke
Wesley Wommack Georgia College
Logan Mattix
Georgia College
Nick Debo
UNC Pembroke
Roberto Rivera
UNC Pembroke
Daniel McCrary
North Georgia
Michael Maiocco
Flagler
Anthony Burke
UNC Pembroke
Michael Livingston Young Harris
Josh Bryan
North Georgia
Grant Khan
Georgia College
Player of the Year
Brandon Benson, Georgia College
Pitcher of the Year
Joseph Benitez, USC Aiken
Freshman of the Year
Sebastian Samuels, Montevallo
Coach of the Year
Tom Cantrell, North Georgia
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