Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Full PDF)
2016 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
2016 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
2016 Sun Belt Conference Standings
2016 Sun Belt Conference Statistics
UTA's Turner Wins Second Consecutive Student-Athlete of the Week Honor; Tournament Berths Clinched over the Weekend
NEW ORLEANS - UT Arlington's Colton Turner and Little Rock's Cory Malcom have been named the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Student-Athletes of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.
Turner, who won the award last week as well after a week that saw him drive in 10 runs, picked right up where he left this weekend in doing his part in leading the Mavs to a series sweep at Appalachian State. The slugger from Round Rock, Texas, hit safely eight times in 14 at-bats in three games with five going for extra bases. He and Little Rock’s Ryan Scott are the only players in the league to have earned multiple weekly honors in consecutive weeks this season.
He opened the weekend going 3-for-5 with a double and a solo home run that broke a 3-3 tie and proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win. A day later he went 2-for-4 with a double in an 8-3 victory before finishing off the weekend a triple short of the cycle, driving in four and hitting a three-run homer to break open what was a 3-2 game in the fifth inning of a 7-5 win.
His performance the last two weeks has surged Turner’s batting average up to .303 for the season and his 14 doubles for the year is just one shy of Matt McLean for the team lead.
Little Rock's Malcom had his best-career outing as he threw a complete-game shutout in the Trojans’ 17-0 win at ULM on Saturday night. Malcom tied a career-high with nine strikeouts as he became the first Little Rock pitcher to throw a nine-inning, complete-game shutout since Calvin Drinnen against Oklahoma in 2011.
Malcom only allowed three hits and two walks on exactly 100 pitches as he earned his fifth win of the season.
With just one weekend left in regular season play, seven of the eight tournament berths have been awarded. Arkansas State currently holds the eighth and final spot and can clinch that berth this weekend. UL Monroe and Georgia State are also in the running for the final tournament berth.
The final conference series games are slated for a Thursday through Saturday schedule as the teams move up one day to add in rest time before the conference tournament.
The conference tournament will begin on Wednesday, May 25 with four games scheduled, followed by four more games on Thursday, May 26. Two games on Friday, May 27 and a minimum of two on Saturday, possibly four. Sunday's championship will be at 1 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN3. In fact, all but Wednesday's games will be broadcast on ESPN3. Wednesday's games will be broadcast by the Sun Belt Digital Network.
Recent Results
May 10 (Tuesday)
Arkansas State 4, Memphis 3
Kennesaw State 3, Georgia State 2
Auburn 7, Troy 2
North Florida 13, Georgia Southern 4
May 11 (Wednesday)
Georgia Southern 2, North Florida 0
Mississippi State 7, Troy 3
Houston 3, UL Lafayette 2
May 13 (Friday)
Appalachian State 3, UT Arlington 4 *
Georgia State 2, Troy 4 (11) *
Arkansas State 6, Texas State 1 *
Georgia Southern 1, No. 22 Clemson 12
UL Monroe 4, Little Rock 1 *
South Alabama 3, UL Lafayette 2 *
May 14 (Saturday)
Georgia State 3, Troy 9 *
Appalachian State 3, UT Arlington 8 *
Arkansas State 9, Texas State 6 *
Georgia Southern 7, Clemson 6
UL Monroe 0, Little Rock 17 *
South Alabama 4, UL Lafayette 5 (11) *
May 15 (Sunday)
Appalachian State 5, UT Arlington 7 *
Georgia Southern 1, Clemson 17
Georgia State 3, Troy 16 (7) *
Arkansas State 3, Texas State 12 *
South Alabama 3, UL Lafayette 6 *
UL Monroe 6, Little Rock 7 *
Upcoming Games
May 17 (Tuesday)
UL Monroe at Southern Mississippi 6:00 PM
Texas State at Texas 6:00 PM
Ole Miss at Arkansas State 6:30 PM
UL Lafayette at New Orleans 6:30 PM
Little Rock at Central Arkansas TBA
May 19 (Thursday)
Longwood at Appalachian State 5:00 PM
Arkansas State at Little Rock * 6:00 PM
Georgia State at Georgia Southern * 6:00 PM
UL Monroe at UL Lafayette * 6:00 PM
South Alabama at Troy * 6:00 PM
Texas State at UT Arlington * 6:30 PM
May 20 (Friday)
Longwood at Appalachian State 5:00 PM
Arkansas State at Little Rock * 6:00 PM
Georgia State at Georgia Southern * 6:00 PM
UL Monroe at UL Lafayette * 6:00 PM
South Alabama at Troy * 6:00 PM
Texas State at UT Arlington * 6:30 PM
May 21 (Saturday)
Longwood at Appalachian State 12:00 PM
Georgia State at Georgia Southern * 12:00 PM
Arkansas State at Little Rock * 1:00 PM
South Alabama at Troy * 1:00 PM
Texas State at UT Arlington * 2:00 PM
UL Monroe at UL Lafayette * 3:00 PM
* - denotes Sun Belt Conference game
Week 13 Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week
Colton Turner
UT Arlington | Junior | DH
The reigning SBC Player of the Week picked right up where he left this weekend, doing his part in leading the Mavs to a series sweep at Appalachian State. The slugger from Round Rock, Texas, hit safely eight times in 14 at-bats in three games, five going for extra bases. He opened the weekend going 3-for-5 with a double and a solo home run that broke a 3-3 tie and proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win. A day later he went 2-for-4 with a double in an 8-3 victory before finishing off the weekend a triple short of the cycle, driving in four and hitting a three-run homer to break open what was a 3-2 game in the fifth inning of a 7-5 win.
Week 13 Community Coffee Pitcher of the Week
Cory Malcom
Little Rock | Junior | RHP
Junior Cory Malcom had his best-career outing as he threw a complete-game shutout in the Trojans’ 17-0 win at ULM on Saturday night. Malcom tied a career-high with nine strikeouts as he became the first Little Rock pitcher to throw a nine-inning, complete-game shutout since Calvin Drinnen against Oklahoma in 2011. Malcom only allowed three hits and two walks on exactly 100 pitches as he earned his fifth win of the season.
Student-Athlete of the Week Archive
2.23 - Kyle Clement, UL Lafayette
3.01 - Luke Sherley, Texas State
3.08 - Ryan Scott, Little Rock
3.15 - Jonathan Ortega, Texas State
3.21 - Ryan Scott, Little Rock
3.28 - Ryan Scott, Little Rock
4.04 - Jack Thompson, Georgia State
4.11 - Joey Roach, Georgia State
4.18 - Joe Robbins, UL Lafayette
4.25 - Joe Schrimpf, Arkansas State
5.02 - Tanner Mann-Fix, Appalachian State
5.09 - Colton Turner, UT Arlington
5.16 - Colton Turner, UT Arlington
Pitcher of the Week Archive
2.23 - Chase Cohen, Georgia Southern
3.01 - Kevin Hill, South Alabama
3.08 - Lucas Humpal, Texas State
3.15 - Dylan Moore, UL Lafayette
3.21 - Jeremy Hallonquist, Texas State
3.28 - Brayden Bouchey, UL Monroe
4.04 - Kevin Hill, South Alabama
4.11 - Evan Guillory, UL Lafayette
4.18 - Kadon Simmons, UT Arlington
4.25 - Wayne Wages, Georgia State
5.02 - Brayden Bouchey, UL Monroe
5.09 - Breydan Gorham, Appalachian State
5.16 - Cory Malcom, Little Rock
AROUND THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE
- Community Coffee is the official coffee of the Sun Belt Conference. They are sponsoring this season’s baseball student-athlete and pitcher of the week awards as well as the Most Outstanding Player award at the tournament.
- Seven of the eight tournament berths have been awarded with one weekend to play in the 2016 regular season. Arkansas State currently holds the eighth and final spot and can clinch this weekend. UL Monroe and Georgia State are also in the running for the final tournament berth.
- UTA's Colton Turner became the second student-athlete this to be named the Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week in consecutive weeks. Little Rock's Ryan Scott did so earlier this season. No pitchers have won back-to-back honors.
- The final conference series games are slated for a Thursday through Saturday schedule as the teams move up one day to add in rest time before the conference tournament.
- The conference tournament will begin on Wednesday, May 25 with four games scheduled, followed by four more games on Thursday, May 26. Two games on Friday, May 27 and a minimum of two on Saturday, possibly four. Sunday's championship will be at 1 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN3. In fact, all but Wednesday's games will be broadcast on ESPN3. Wednesday's games will be broadcast by the Sun Belt Digital Network.
- Little Rock's 16th Sun Belt win yesterday against ULM tied a program record for conference wins. The Trojans last won 16 Sun Belt games in 2000. 2016 is just the second time that Little Rock will have finished its conference schedule with a winning Sun Belt record in the program's 25 year run in the Sun Belt.