Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina junior
Justice Bigbie – the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Year – headlined four Catamounts garnering preseason all-conference accolades on Thursday afternoon as the league unveiled its preseason tabulations from the coaches and voting media.
Bigbie, who collected the top postseason honors from the conference last spring as well as Most Valuable Player honors in the Northwoods League over the summer, was dubbed SoCon Preseason Player of the Year and a first-team honoree at third base. He was joined on the first team by classmate outfielder
Daylan Nanny while senior
Luke Robinson and redshirt senior
Andrew Bullock both received second-team nods from the SoCon's head coaches at catcher and designated hitter.
Western Carolina, the SoCon's all-time winningest baseball championship program with 23 titles (13 regular season, 10 tournament), was picked to finish sixth by the league head coaches and seventh by the voting media on Thursday.
Bigbie is coming off a strong sophomore season that saw him collect first-team All-SoCon and second-team ABCA All-Atlantic Region plaudits in addition to the player of the year award. The Chesapeake, Va., native recorded a team-best 75 base hits including 11 doubles and 12 home runs – two coming as inside-the-park round-trippers. He finished third in the SoCon with a .355 batting average, second in on-base percentage (.446), and was third in RBI with 51. In addition to being a statistical leader, Bigbie was voted a team captain by his teammates earlier this preseason.
Transferring to WCU prior to the 2019 season,
Daylan Nanny made an immediate impact both in the field and at the plate a season ago, garnering the first-team All-SoCon nod. He closed his first season in the Purple & Gold with a .320 batting average, third on the squad, finishing with 66 total hits with 24 multiple-hit games. His team-best 19 doubles ranked tied for second in the SoCon last spring, with the Plainfield, Ind., native adding seven home runs, 44 runs scored, and a total of 31 RBI. He was dubbed SoCon Baseball Player of the Week in early March last year after going 9-for-21 (.429) with three doubles and hitting two homers in the reporting period.
Robinson completed his junior season just south of the .300 batting average plateau, recording 60 base hits including 11 doubles, four triples, and 11 home runs with 44 RBI – each his single-season career-high. His four triples were tied for fourth-most in the SoCon. He additionally ranked seventh in the SoCon in slugging percentage (.557). Appearing on the Buster Posey Award Watch List, the McLeansville, N.C., native split time behind the plate (23 games) and first base (29 games). Like Bigbie, Robinson was voted a team captain earlier this preseason.
A fifth-year senior, slugger Bullock is likewise coming off a career-best season. Though his seasonal average was down at .279, the Chesapeake, Va., native returned from injury to collect his single-season high of 46 base hits including 12 doubles, a triple, and three home runs. He also posted a career-best 27 RBI making 42 starts including 33 as the designated hitter and seven in the outfield. A SoCon All-Freshman team honoree in 2016, Bullock is a .293 career hitter with 19 career doubles and 13 homers.
All told, seven of the nine SoCon baseball schools were represented on the preseason teams. Coaches were not allowed to vote on their own players. Samford and Wofford led the way with four preseason all-conference first-team selections apiece with WCU the only other team with more than one first-team nod as ETSU, Furman, and Mercer each placed one player on the top squad. Mercer and Wofford headlined the second team, both with three selections while ETSU, UNCG, Samford, and WCU each had a pair.
Wofford and Samford swapped the top preseason pick in the two polls unveiled on Thursday with the Terriers collecting the top honor in the coaches' poll and the Bulldogs in the media tabulation. Mercer was slotted third in both polls with ETSU and UNCG tagged in the middle between fourth and fifth in the two polls. WCU and Furman were picked sixth and seventh, respectively, in the coaches and media poll with VMI and The Citadel rounding out the prognostications in order with the Keydets tying the Paladins for seventh in the coach vote.
Western Carolina opens the 2020 season with a four-game series at home against Chicago State, Feb. 14-16. The 2020 SoCon Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases returns to Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., from May 19-24 and includes all nine teams with the winner garnering the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
2020 Preseason All-Southern Conference
Preseason Player of the Year: Justice Bigbie, Jr., Western Carolina
Preseason Pitcher of the Year: Zach Hester, Sr., Samford
First Team All-Southern Conference
SP - Zach Hester, Samford
SP - Hayes Heinecke, Wofford
RP - Carson Cupo, Samford
C - Jackson Greer, ETSU
1B - Sonny DiChiara, Samford
2B - Brooks Carlson, Samford
SS - Matty Brown, Wofford
3B - Justice Bigbie, Western Carolina
OF - Hudson Byorick, Wofford
OF - Collin Davis, Wofford
OF - Daylan Nanny, Western Carolina
DH - Dax Roper, Furman
DH - Le Bassett, Mercer
Second Team All-Southern Conference
SP - Landon Knack, ETSU
SP - Jesse McCord, Samford
RP - Nathaniel Tate, ETSU
RP - Rasesh Pandya, Wofford
C - Luke Robinson, Western Carolina
1B - Angelo DiSpigna, Mercer
2B - John Dempsey, Wofford
SS - RJ Yeager, Mercer
SS - Taylor Garris, Samford
3B - Caleb Webster, UNCG
OF - Greg Hardison, UNCG
OF - Mike Brown, Wofford
OF - Collin Price, Mercer
DH - Andrew Bullock, Western Carolina
