Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Full PDF)
2016 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
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Community Coffee Student-Athletes of the Week Announced; Teams Hit Final Stretch
NEW ORLEANS - The Sun Belt Conference office announced Colton Turner of UT Arlington as the recipient of the Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week and Breydan Gorham of Appalachian State as the recipient of the Community Coffee Pitcher of the Week for their performances last week.

Turner drove in 10 runs for the week and was the primary power source for the Mavericks in winning a pair of games to take the series from Little Rock to even UTA’s record for the week at 2-2. The junior tied a school record and set a new high-water mark for the Sun Belt this year with eight RBI in UTA’s 21-8 win at Little Rock on Saturday.

He went 5-for-5 in the game, smacking three doubles, driving in his eighth run of the game on a sacrifice fly to the warning track with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. Turner responded with two more RBI in the series finale, including an RBI double and another sacrifice fly in a series-clinching 6-4 win, UTA’s third consecutive road series win of the year.

Appalachian State’s right-handed freshman allowed one run over seven innings in a 6-1 victory over No. 19 UL Lafayette on Saturday night. Gorham kept the Ragin’ Cajuns off the board for seven full innings before allowing a leadoff walk and a single in the eighth. The lone run charged against him scored on a groundout after he left the game

Gorham scattered six hits over his seven-plus innings of work, struck out four and walked one. No runners advanced past second base while he was in the game. Over his last two starts, Gorham has allowed just two runs over 14 innings to lead the Mountaineers to convincing wins over Arkansas State and the Ragin' Cajuns.

Six games remain for the league's top four teams and that is exactly the separation from first to fourth in the league standings. South Alabama (19-5) continues to lead the race for the No. 1 overall seed in this month's championship but are only three games ahead of the Ragin' Cajuns (16-8). Those two teams have already clinched berths into the tournament and will square off this weekend in what is a rematch of last year's championship game.

Little Rock (14-10) is five games out of first behind the Jaguars in third and are just one game ahead of the Bobcats of Texas State (13-11) who are fourth in the league standings.

Georgia Southern (14-13) has played 27 games in conference play and will stop out of conference to take on Clemson in its final non-conference series of the year before closing out the regular season against Georgia State. Troy (12-12) is 1.5 games behind the Eagles but 1.5 games ahead of the Mavericks (11-13).

The top eight teams based on winning percentage will qualify for the 2016 tournament. Three teams are tied at 9-15 in league play and they are Arkansas State, Georgia State and UL Monroe. The Mountaineers are 9-18.

The 2016 tournament begins Wednesday, May 25 and continues through Sunday, May 29. Final seeds and the official bracket will be released following the conclusion of the regular season on May 21.

Recent Results

May 3 (Tuesday)
Appalachian State 10, NC A&T 9
Georgia State 13, Alabama A&M 5
Texas State 6, UTSA 0
UL Monroe 3, Nicholls State 1
South Alabama 4, Jacksonville State 2
Dallas Baptist 7, UT Arlington 3
Little Rock 7, Stephen F. Austin 2

May 4 (Wednesday)
Georgia State 8, Alabama A&M 7
Louisiana Tech 14, UL Monroe 4
Troy 3, Alabama State 1
South Alabama 8, Jacksonville State 7

May 6 (Friday)
Northwestern State 8, Arkansas State 3
Little Rock 5, UT Arlington 3 *
Troy 5, UL Monroe 3 *
Texas State 6, Georgia State 2 *
UL Lafayette 7, Appalachian State 0 *
Georgia Southern 4, South Alabama 3 (10) *

May 7 (Saturday)
Northwestern State 6, Arkansas State 3
UT Arlington 21, Little Rock 8 *
UL Monroe 6, Troy 2 *
Texas State 10, Georgia State 1 *
Appalachian State 6, UL Lafayette 1 *
Georgia Southern 11, South Alabama 9 *

May 8 (Sunday)
Arkansas State 4, Northwestern State 1
UT Arlington 6, Little Rock 4 *
UL Monroe 4, Troy 3 *
Georgia State 10, Texas State 9 (11) *
UL Lafayette 4, Appalachian State 1 *
South Alabama 10, Georgia Southern 0 (8) *

Upcoming Games

May 10 (Tuesday)
Georgia Southern at North Florida - 4:00 PM
Georgia State at Kennesaw State - 5:00 PM
Troy at Auburn - 6:00 PM
Memphis at Arkansas State - 6:30 PM

May 11 (Wednesday)
North Florida at Georgia Southern - 5:00 PM
Mississippi State at Troy - 6:00 PM

May 13 (Friday)
UT Arlington at Appalachian State * - 5:00 PM
Troy at Georgia State * - 5:00 PM
Texas State at Arkansas State * - 6:00 PM
Clemson at Georgia Southern - 6:00 PM
Little Rock at UL Monroe * - 6:00 PM
UL Lafayette at South Alabama * - 6:30 PM

May 14 (Saturday)
Troy at Georgia State * - 1:00 PM
UT Arlington at Appalachian State * - 2:00 PM
Texas State at Arkansas State * - 4:00 PM
Clemson at Georgia Southern - 6:00 PM
Little Rock at UL Monroe * - 6:00 PM
UL Lafayette at South Alabama * - 6:30 PM

May 15 (Sunday)
UT Arlington at Appalachian State * - 12:00 PM
Clemson at Georgia Southern - 12:00 PM
Troy at Georgia State * - 12:00 PM
Texas State at Arkansas State - 12:00 PM
UL Lafayette at South Alabama * - 1:00 PM
Little Rock at UL Monroe * - 1:00 PM

* - denotes Sun Belt Conference game

Week 12 Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week

Colton Turner
UT Arlington | Junior | DH
Turner drove in 10 runs for the week and was the primary power source for the Mavericks in winning a pair of games to take the series from Little Rock to even UTA’s record for the week at 2-2. The junior tied a school record and set a new high-water mark for the Sun Belt this year with eight RBI in UTA’s 21-8 win at Little Rock on Saturday. He went 5-for-5 in the game, smacking three doubles, driving in his eighth run of the game on a sacrifice fly to the warning track with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. Turner responded with two more RBI in the series finale, including an RBI double and another sacrifice fly in a series-clinching 6-4 win, UTA’s third straight road series win of the year.

Week 12 Community Coffee Pitcher of the Week

Breydan Gorham
Appalachian State | Freshman | RHP
Appalachian State’s right-handed freshman allowed one run over seven innings in a 6-1 victory over No. 19 UL Lafayette on Saturday night … Gorham kept the Ragin’ Cajuns off the board for seven full innings before allowing a leadoff walk and a single in the eighth … the lone run charged against him scored on a groundout after he left the game … he scattered six hits over his seven-plus innings of work, struck out four and walked one … no runners advanced past second base while he was in the game … over his last two starts, Gorham has allowed just two runs over 14 innings to lead the Mountaineers to convincing wins over Arkansas State and the 19th-ranked Cajuns.

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

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

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.
• Appalachian State baseball picked up its third win over a nationally ranked team this season when it defeated No. 19 UL Lafayette, 6-1, on Saturday evening. The win was Appalachian State's 12th over a nationally ranked opponent since 2011 and its seventh in four seasons under head coach Billy Jones. Prior to 2011, the Mountaineers went 29 years without a win over a ranked team.
• With two saves against Troy, ULM's Anthony Herrera moved his season total to nine saves and he is just one shy of tying the single-season school record. He also has 15 career saves and is in sole possession of second place all-time at ULM.
• Texas State's Pasquale Mazzoccoli tied a school record for most saves in a season with his 11th save this year in a 6-2 win Friday night over Georgia State.
• South Alabama right-hander Kevin Hill passed former Jaguar All-American Jon Lieber (298) for fourth on the career strikeouts list at USA in Friday's start against Georgia Southern, and also recorded his 300th career strikeout in the game.
• The 2016 season marks the fourth consecutive season the UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns have won 30 or more games.
• The latest NCAA RPI report has the Cajuns rated No. 21 and the South Alabama Jaguars at No. 39. The Jags are one win from matching their season total from a year ago.