NEW ORLEANS — Following a vote of the conference’s 12 head coaches, Texas State’s Dalton Shuffield, Coastal Carolina’s Reid VanScoter, Georgia State’s Max Ryerson, App State’s Austin St. Laurent and Texas State’s Steven Trout received the Sun Belt Conference’s baseball postseason honors. The conference office also announced the 2022 Baseball All-Sun Belt Teams on Monday.
Texas State’s Shuffield was named the Sun Belt Baseball Player of the Year; Coastal Carolina’s VanScoter was selected as the Pitcher of the Year; Georgia State’s Ryerson was tabbed as the Newcomer of the Year; App State’s St. Laurent was dubbed the Freshman of the Year and Texas State’s Trout was honored as the Ron Maestri Coach of the Year.
Senior shortstop Shuffield paced the Sun Belt with 84 hits, 74 runs scored, 20 doubles and five triples, while ranking among the top five in the conference with a .393 batting average, .701 slugging percentage and 150 total bases. The San Antonio, Texas, native is also a semifinalist for the 2022 Dick Howser Trophy.
Redshirt senior left-handed pitcher VanScoter posted a 9-2 record, while maintaining a 3.06 ERA over 82.1 innings pitched. The Livonia, N.Y., product struck out 80 and held opponents to a .235 batting average on the season. VanScoter ranked among the Top 10 in the Sun Belt in wins, innings pitched, earned run average, strikeouts and opposing batting average.
Junior outfielder Ryerson, a transfer from Gulf Coast State College, paced the Sun Belt and set a new Georgia State single-season record with 22 home runs on the year. The Conway, S.C., native hit .338 and slugged .712 with a Sun Belt-leading 156 total bases, 61 RBI and 45 runs scored.
Redshirt freshman utility man St. Laurent hit .301 with 13 doubles, 25 RBI and 32 runs scored. The Elon, N.C., product started 49-of-51 games for the Mountaineers.
Trout guided Texas State to a 44-11 record, including a Sun Belt-leading 26-4 mark in conference play to earn the regular-season title. The Bobcats have already won a program-record 44 games and matched the second-highest conference winning percentage in Sun Belt history during the regular-season—tying the 2014 Louisiana club (.867, 26-4) and trailing only the 1981 UAB team that went undefeated in conference play (1.000, 12-0).
Texas State enters the 2022 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Baseball Championship presented by Troy University at No. 26 in the RPI—one of three Sun Belt programs among the Top 30 and one of five among the Top 70.
Those top five teams—in both the RPI and the conference standings—combined to claim 20-of-28 All-Sun Belt nods. Regular-season champion Texas State led all programs with five All-Sun Belt First Team honorees and seven overall selections.
Coastal Carolina (4), Georgia Southern (4), Georgia State (3), South Alabama (3), Little Rock (2) and Louisiana (2) each had multiple All-Sun Belt recipients. 10-of-12 Sun Belt programs were represented on the two All-Sun Belt teams.
Player of the Year
Dalton Shuffield, Texas State (Sr., SS – San Antonio, Texas)
Pitcher of the Year
Reid VanScoter, Coastal Carolina (RS Sr., P – Livonia, N.Y.)
Newcomer of the Year
Max Ryerson, Georgia State (Jr., OF – Conway, S.C.)
Freshman of the Year
Austin St. Laurent, App State (RS Fr., UT – Elon, N.C.)
Ron Maestri Coach of the Year
Steven Trout, Texas State
All-Sun Belt First Team
Reid VanScoter, Coastal Carolina (RS Sr., P – Livonia, N.Y.)
Levi Wells, Texas State (So., P – La Porte, Texas)
Zeke Wood, Texas State (Jr., P – Paris, Texas)
Tristan Stivors, Texas State (Sr., RP – Castroville, Texas)
Julian Brock, Louisiana (So., C – Fulshear, Texas)
Carson Roccaforte, Louisiana (So., 1B – Port Neches, Texas)
Jesse Sherrill, Georgia Southern (Jr., 2B – Pensacola, Fla.)
Dalton Shuffield, Texas State (Sr., SS – San Antonio, Texas)
Justin Thompson, Texas State (Sr., 3B – Frisco, Texas)
Max Ryerson, Georgia State (Jr., OF – Conway, S.C.)
Mason Holt, ULM (Sr., OF – Coppell, Texas)
Miles Simington, South Alabama (Sr., OF – Bourbonnais, Ill.)
Cameron Jones, Georgia State (So., UT – Kathleen, Ga.)
Noah Ledford, Georgia Southern (RS Jr., DH – Buford, Ga.)
All-Sun Belt Second Team
Hayden Arnold, Little Rock (5th, P – Rison, Ark.)
Michael Knorr, Coastal Carolina (Sr., P – Carlsbad, Calif.)
Matt Boswell, South Alabama (Sr., P – Destin, Fla.)
Jay Thompson, Georgia Southern (Jr., RP – Cumming, Ga.)
Hayden Cross, App State (Jr., C – Sanford, N.C.)
Jason Swan, Georgia Southern (5th, 1B – Jacksonville, Fla.)
Erick Orbeta, South Alabama (RS So., 2B – Miami, Fla.)
Griffin Cheney, Georgia State (Gr., SS – Johns Creek, Ga.)
Dale Thomas, Coastal Carolina (Jr., 3B – De Leon Springs, Fla.)
Noah Dickerson, Little Rock (RS Jr., OF – Windermere, Fla.)
Jose Gonzalez, Texas State (Jr., OF – Spring, Texas)
John Wuthrich, Texas State (Sr., OF – Midland, Texas)
Rigsby Mosley, Troy (Sr., UT – Maitland, Fla.)
Tyler Johnson, Coastal Carolina (Sr., DH – Bentonville, Ark.)