College baseball: Catawba the SAC favorite
Published 5:07 pm Wednesday, January 22, 2025
SAC Press release
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Catawba Indians have been picked as the 2025 South Atlantic Conference baseball preseason favorite, the league office announced.
The Catawba Indians received 10 first-place votes from the conference’s head baseball coaches and 132 total points.
The 2024 SAC Regular Season Champions, Catawba finished the year with a 46-17 record advancing to the NCAA National Semifinal.
Wingate was voted No. 2 with 122 total points, while Lincoln Memorial earned the No. 3 spot with 111 points.
Coker placed fourth in the poll with one first-place vote and 108 points, followed by Lenoir-Rhyne at No. 5 with a first-place vote and 102 points. Newberry was voted No. 6 with 93 points and one first-place vote.
Carson-Newman earned the No. 7 slot with 87 points, while Tusculum earned 84 points in eighth and Anderson placed ninth with 53 points. Limestone came in at No. 10 with 44 points, followed by Mars Hill at No. 11 with 32 points.
Rounding out the poll is UVA Wise at 12th with 28 points and Emory & Henry in 13th with 16 points.
In addition to the preseason coaches’ poll, the SAC announced its 2025 Preseason All-Conference teams. Catawba’s Austin Fine and Payne Stolsworth, along with Lincoln Memorial’s Christian Pencek were named first team starting pitchers. Catawba’s Hayden Simmerson was named first-team reliever and Lenoir-Rhyne’s Sal Carricato was named to the first team as the designated hitter.
Lenoir-Rhyne’s backstop Cole Stanford earned first-team honors at catcher and Anderson’s Gray Wells was named first-team first baseman. Cam Harris of Wingate was named first-team at second base, Lincoln Memorial’s Kasten Harvey earned first-team honors at third base and Tusculum’s Ben Scartz was named the first team shortstop.
Rounding out the first team selections are Catawba’s Dylan Driver and Sam Hunter, with Lincoln Memorial’s Chris Hall in the outfield.
First pitch for the 2025 season will take place on Friday, Jan. 31.
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