ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Lincoln Memorial outfielder Carson Boles was voted the 2024 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Player of the Year, while Catawba's right-handed pitcher Payne Stolsworth was named the Pitcher of the Year. In addition, Catawba's Hayden Simmerson was voted the SAC Freshman of the Year and Catawba head coach Jim Gantt was named Coach of the Year, the Conference announced today.
Boles, a junior from Lebanon, Tenn., becomes Lincoln Memorial's first SAC Player of the Year since Josh Coker won the honor in 2014. The pair are the only two LMU players to win the award. Boles leads the South Atlantic Conference with a .464 batting average – which ranks sixth across Division II – and also paces the league with 24 doubles, 137 total bases, a .556 on base percentage and an .815 slugging percentage. Boles drove in seven runs in a win over Emory & Henry on April 6 and has 25 multi-hit games on the year. Boles enters the SAC Tournament on a 17-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in all 45 games for the Railsplitters. Boles also has 14 multi-RBI games on the season.
Stolsworth, a graduate student from Salisbury, N.C., becomes the 10th pitcher from Catawba to be named the league's Pitcher of the Year since 2004. In his first season with Catawba, Stolsworth led the SAC in wins (10), innings pitched (86), starts (13) and is second in the league in complete games (2). Stolsworth is third in the league with a 3.35 ERA and his 11-strikeout performance against Mars Hill on April 6 was a season-high.
Simmerson, a freshman from Salisbury, N.C., pitched in 22 games with six starts in his rookie season. Simmerson finished the year with a 3-2 record and six saves to go with a 3.14 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 57.1 innings. He finished second in the conference in strikeouts-per-nine at 10.83. He had two games where he struck out six batters out of the bullpen with one coming on April 20 against Coker. Four of his saves were multi-inning saves.
Gantt earns his 13th South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year honor after leading Catawba to a regular season championship and a 38-12 overall record to go with the 24-6 league mark. As mentioned, he produced the league's Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year this season and is closing in on 1,000 all-time head coaching victories. Gantt is the winningest coach in SAC baseball history with his 982 wins, all coming with Catawba. Gantt is looking for his tenth 40-win season at Catawba since 2004 with a couple more wins.
The SAC baseball awards will be presented at the 2024 SAC Baseball Championship Opening Round between games one and two at Catawba and Coker.
2024 SAC Baseball All-Conference
All-SAC First Team
OF – Carson Boles, Lincoln Memorial
OF – Sean Barnett, Wingate
OF – Donovan Ford, Newberry
1B – Brett Adams, Wingate
2B – Cam Harris, Wingate
SS – Levi Perrell, Catawba
3B – Kasten Harvey, Lincoln Memorial
C – Bo Rusher III, Catawba
DH – Sal Carricato, Lenoir-Rhyne
SP – Payne Stolsworth, Catawba
SP – Austin Fine, Catawba
SP – Christain Pencek, Lincoln Memorial
RP – Hunter Harritan, Carson-Newman
All-SAC Second Team
OF – Dylan Driver, Catawba
OF – Sam Hunter, Catawba
OF – Drew Robertson, Catawba
1B – Tyler McPeak, Lenoir-Rhyne
2B – Cole Laskowski, Lenoir-Rhyne
SS – Ben Scartz, Tusculum
3B – Jared Foley, Emory & Henry
C – Carlos Hernandez, Anderson
DH – James Denten, Carson-Newman
SP – Kelan Hoover, Wingate
SP – Aaron Diaz, Coker
SP – Dillon Chapa, Lenoir-Rhyne
RP – Hayden Simmerson, Catawba
All-SAC Third Team
OF – Blake Bean, Lenoir-Rhyne
OF – Khi Holiday, Lenoir-Rhyne
OF – Collin Goda, Lincoln Memorial
1B – Ryan Kurth, Lincoln Memorial
2B – Sion Barnette, Limestone
SS – Cameron Bowen, Lincoln Memorial
3B – Logan Floyd, Carson-Newman
C – Cole Stanford, Lenoir-Rhyne
DH – Breon Ishmael, Wingate
SP – Kellen Gradisar, Lenoir-Rhyne
SP – Hunter French, Newberry
SP – Matias Marchesini, Newberry
RP – Seth Willis, Tusculum
All-SAC Defense
P – Noah Pridmore, Carson-Newman
1B – Brett Adams, Wingate
2B – Cole Laskowski, Lenoir-Rhyne
3B – Logan Floyd, Carson-Newman
SS – Hunter Poole, Coker
LF – Drew Robertson, Catawba
CF – Donovan Ford, Newberry
RF – Dylan Driver, Catawba
C – Jaylen Mack, Coker
Coach of the Year
Jim Gantt, Catawba
Freshman of the Year
Hayden Simmerson, Catawba
Pitcher of the Year
Payne Stolsworth, Catawba
Player of the Year
Carson Boles, Lincoln Memorial
Statistical Champions
Team Batting Average – Catawba (.328)
Team Slugging Percentage – Lincoln Memorial (.559)
Team On-Base Percentage – Catawba (.431)
Team Doubles Per Game – Lincoln Memorial (3.20)
Team Triples Per Game – Catawba (0.48)
Team Home Runs Per Game – Lenoir-Rhyne (1.50)
Team Stolen Bases Per Game – Coker (3.33)
Team Earned Run Average – Catawba (4.16)
Team Strikeouts Per Game – Lenoir-Rhyne (8.7)
Batting Average – Carson Boles, Lincoln Memorial (.464)
On-Base Percentage – Carson Boles, Lincoln Memorial (.556)
Slugging Percentage – Carson Boles, Lincoln Memorial (.815)
Home Runs Per Game – Sean Barnett, Wingate (0.35)
RBIs Per Game – Brett Adams, Wingate (1.41)
Doubles Per Game – Carson Boles, Lincoln Memorial (0.53)
Triples Per Game – Donovan Ford, Newberry (0.15)
Stolen Bases Per Game – Donovan Ford, Newberry (0.58)
Earned Run Average – Benjamin Blackwell, (2.34)
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings – Grif Hughes, Carson-Newman (10.9)
Pitching Victories – Payne Stolsworth, Catawba (10)