Cougars, Eagles top SoCon baseball picks

The College of Charleston was picked by the coaches while Georgia Southern was the choice of the media to win the 2012 Southern Conference baseball championship it was announced Wednesday.

The Cougars were picked by six of the 11 coaches and finished with 93 points, one point ahead of the Eagles. Samford got the other first-place vote and was picked to finish third with 83 points. The Citadel was picked eighth with 33 points.

Georgia Southern received 20 first-place votes in the media poll and had 269 points. The Cougars received three first-place votes and were second with 246 points and Elon was third with two first-place votes and 220 points. The Citadel also was picked eighth by the media, receiving 112 points.

Four College of Charleston players and two Citadel players were named to the SoCon preseason all-conference team as picked by the league's coaches.

Starting pitcher Christian Powell and outfielder Daniel Aldrich of the College of Charleston, and third baseman Drew DeKerlegand of The Citadel were first-team picks. Outfielder Nick Orvin of The Citadel, along with Cougars starting pitcher Josh Renfro and outfielder Marty Gantt, were named to the second team.

Preseason All-SoCon

Player of Year -- Victor Roache, Jr., OF, Georgia Southern

Pitcher of Year -- Chris Beck, Jr., RHP, Georgia Southern

FIRST TEAM

SP -- Chris Beck, Georgia Southern

SP -- Christian Powell, Coll. of Charleston

RP -- Lex Rutledge, Samford

C -- Trevor Edwards, UNC Greensboro

1B -- Saxon Butler, Samford

2B -- Ross Heffley, Western Carolina

SS -- Eric Phillips, Georgia Southern

3B -- Drew DeKerlegand, The Citadel

OF -- Victor Roache, Georgia Southern

OF -- Daniel Aldrich, College of Charleston

OF -- Phillip Ervin, Samford

DH -- Daniel Kassouf, Appalachian State

SECOND TEAM

SP -- Ryan Arrowood, Appalachian State

SP -- Josh Renfro, College of Charleston

RP -- David Port, Appalachian State

C -- Alex Swim, Elon

1B -- Konstantine Diamaduros, Wofford

2B -- Sebastian Gomez, Elon

SS -- Aaron Attaway, Western Carolina

3B -- (tie) Zack Briggs, Appalachian State; Alex Abrams, Furman

OF -- Marty Gantt, College of Charleston

OF -- Nick Orvin, The Citadel

OF -- Tyler Zupcic, Appalachian State

DH -- Taylor Johnson, Furman

Southern Conference

Preseason Picks

Coaches poll

Media poll