IRVING, Texas, -- Conference USA has announced its 2016-preseason baseball awards, as chosen by the league's 12 head coaches, on Wednesday morning. Old Dominion was picked to finish fifth in the league, while the Baseball Monarchs saw three players land on the Preseason All-Conference Team.
Senior outfielder Connor Myers, junior pitcher Sam Sinnen and sophomore infielder Zach Rutherford represented the Monarchs on the preseason team, as Old Dominion was the only program to feature three athletes.
The Monarchs finished last season with a 27-29 overall record that featured wins over defending NCAA Champions UVA and No. 8 ranked Rice. ODU advanced to the Conference USA Tournament for the second-consecutive year and saw three players earn all-conference honors at the conclusion of the season.
Myers finished the season hitting .302, knocking in 28 RBI on the season. He posted 17 multiple-hit games and 13-straight games with a hit. He was a threat once on base, as he stole 20 bases on 25 attempts, which ranked second in Conference USA. Myers led the outfield with 150 putouts, including two diving catches against Bryant and one against UAB that were both featured on SportsCenter Top-10.
Sinnen led team with a 6-3 record last season and a 2.84 ERA, which was second on the team. In 66.2 innings of work, he walked only 15 batters and paced the team with 53 strikeouts. Sinnen, who had been a part of three Monarch shutouts, recorded three saves and appeared in 21 games. He capped his sophomore campaign with Second Team All-Conference USA honors.
Rutherford started in 42-of-43 games, mostly at shortstop, as a freshman and was third on the team in hitting at .317 overall and .355 in 27 C-USA games. He recorded 13 multiple-hit games and knocked in a career high four RBI against nationally ranked Florida Atlantic. Rutherford committed only five errors and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman squad at the conclusion of the season. Rutherford highlighted his freshman campaign by becoming just the 16th Baseball Monarch to be selected to the Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America Freshman All-American teams.
ODU will open the season in Myrtle Beach, S.C. from Feb. 19-21 with games against NCAA Regional qualifier NC State on Friday, Kent State on Saturday and Appalachian State on Sunday. The Monarchs close out the rest of the February slate with a home game against cross-town rival Norfolk State on Feb. 23 before hosting the ODU Baseball Tournament from Feb. 26-28, which will consist of matchups against Manhattan, Virginia Tech and Delaware.
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2016 PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS
(As selected by C-USA’s head coaches)
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Rice (12)
2. Florida Atlantic
3. Southern Miss
4. FIU
5. Old Dominion
6. UTSA
7. Middle Tennessee
8. UAB
9. WKU
10. Charlotte
11. Louisiana Tech
12. Marshall
(First place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CJ Chatham, Florida Atlantic (Jr. - Infielder)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Blake Fox, Rice (Jr. - Left-hander)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P - Chase Boster (Sr. - Marshall)
P - Blake Fox (Sr. - Rice)
P - Sam Sinnen (Jr. - Old Dominion)
RP - Thomas Lowery (Jr. - UAB)
C - Esteban Tresgallo (Sr. - UAB)
IF - CJ Chatham (Jr. - Florida Atlantic)
IF - Danny Hudzina (Sr. - WKU)
IF - Tim Lynch (Sr. - Southern Miss)
IF - Zach Rutherford (So. - Old Dominion)
OF - Corey Bird (Jr. - Marshall)
OF - Brad Jarreau (Sr. - Middle Tennessee)
OF - Connor Myers (Sr. - Old Dominion)
OF - Ryan Chandler (So. - Rice)
DH/UT - Brett Lashley (Sr. - Florida Atlantic)