STATESBORO, Georgia – Coastal Carolina's junior leadoff hitter Billy Cooke has been voted the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Community Coffee Player of the Year by the league's 12 head coaches, while Louisiana's Gunner Leger was tabbed as the league's Community Coffee Pitcher of the Year.
Troy junior Andrew Crane was voted as the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and Coastal's Cory Wood was picked as the league's Freshman of the Year. UTA's Darin Thomas was selected as the Ron Maestri Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.
Cooke led the Sun Belt in batting average with a .360 average in all games this season. That average jumped 21 points to .381 for league only games. He finished the regular season with 52 runs scored which tied for the league lead and a league-leading on-base percentage of .484. All three categories are vital to the success of a leadoff hitter.
Additionally, Cooke ranked in the top ten in several major categories including doubles, home runs, total bases, slugging percentage, walks, sacrifice bunts, sacrifice flies and stolen bases. He reached base safely in 47 of 51 games played this season, tallying a hit in 35 of those 47.
Louisiana's Leger continued his dominance this season going 10-2 on the season with a 2.03 earned run average. The junior allowed just 19 runs on the season in 84.1 innings pitched. He struck out 77 in 14 games started. He was a first-team all-conference selection in 2016 and the league's Freshman of the Year in 2015. His ten wins led the Sun Belt this year and ranks fourth in the NCAA.
Troy's Crane has established himself as one of the top pitchers in the nation with unbelievable numbers and a record-breaking streak in tow. The redshirt-junior ranks second nationally and leads the Sun Belt with a 0.93 earned run average. He is currently riding a 39.2 scoreless innings streak. Crane has not allowed a run since March 31. He is 6-1 in league play this season with 46 strikeouts in 48 innings pitched. Only six earned runs have scored with Crane on the mound.
Coastal's Wood was key to the success of the Chants down the stretch as the freshman hit .406 in 22 league games this season with four extra base hits. Wood played in 45 games, starting 41, for the East division champions. He was fourth overall on the team with a .297 average with three home runs and 24 runs batted in.
UTA's Thomas earned his first Coach of the Year honor after leading his Mavericks to a 30-24 overall record with a 20-10 Sun Belt mark. UTA was picked to finish second in the West division. The Mavericks clinched the West with a Friday night win over Texas State in the series final. The 20 conference wins for UTA was a new program record and the 17 road wins the team posted this season (17-8) was also a new team record.
Coastal Carolina led the league with six total All-Conference selections. South Alabama and UTA were second with five each and Louisiana and Texas State were tied for third with four overall selections.
The tournament begins on Tuesday with single elimination games between No. 7 Arkansas State (26-26, 13-16) and No. 10 Georgia State (22-32, 10-20) at 3:00 p.m. ET. In Tuesday night’s finale, No. 8 Texas State takes on No. 9 Little Rock (21-33, 11-18) at 6:30 p.m. ET.
All games of the championship will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
All-Sun Belt Baseball First Team
Alex Cunningham (Coastal Carolina, Senior, SP)
Gunner Leger (Louisiana, Junior, SP)
Andrew Crane (Troy, RS-Junior, SP)
Wyatt Marks (Louisiana, Junior, RP)
Jared Barnes (South Alabama, Junior, C)
Kevin Woodall, Jr. (Coastal Carolina, Junior, 1B)
Brandon Lockridge (Troy, Sophomore, 2B)
Drew LaBounty (South Alabama, Junior, SS)
Joe Robbins (Louisiana, Senior, 3B)
Billy Cooke (Coastal Carolina, Junior, OF)
Travis Swaggerty (South Alabama, Sophomore, OF)
Theodore Hoffman (Texas State, Junior, OF)
Omar Salinas (UTA, Junior, DH)
Anthony Herrera (ULM, Senior, UTIL)
All-Sun Belt Baseball Second Team
Andrew Beckwith (Coastal Carolina, Senior, SP)
Jakob Hernandez (UTA, Junior, SP)
Trae Patterson (UTA, Junior, SP)
Daniel James (UTA, Junior, RP)
Will Olson (UTA, Sophomore, C)
Wells Davis (South Alabama, Sophomore, 1B)
Jonathan Ortega (Texas State, Sophomore, 2B)
Jordan Gore (Coastal Carolina, Junior, SS)
Jaylen Hubbard (Texas State, Sophomore, 3B)
Cory Wood (Coastal Carolina, Freshman, OF)
Steven Sensley (Louisiana, Junior, OF)
Dylan Hardy (South Alabama, Sophomore, OF)
Tyler Martin (Georgia Southern, Sophomore, DH)
Dylan Paul (Texas State, Junior, UTIL)
Sun Belt Baseball Player of the Year
Billy Cooke (Coastal Carolina, Junior, OF)
Sun Belt Baseball Pitcher of the Year
Gunner Leger (Louisiana, Junior, SP)
Sun Belt Baseball Freshman of the Year
Cory Wood (Coastal Carolina, Freshman, OF)
Sun Belt Baseball Newcomer of the Year
Andrew Crane (Troy, RS-Junior, SP)
Sun Belt Baseball Ron Maestri Coach of the Year
Darin Thomas, UTA