Baseball Picked to Finish Third in SoCon Race

STATESBORO, Ga. – A vote by the Southern Conference head baseball coaches predicted Georgia Southern University to finish third in the league. The preseason poll was released by the SoCon on Tuesday (Feb. 12).

Senior Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) was the lone Eagle named to the preseason First Team, selected as a first baseman. Junior Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) was a Second Team outfielder while sophomore Kyle Blackburn (Marietta/Walton) earned a spot on the Second Team at designated hitter.

Georgia Southern received two first-place votes and finished with 70 points. Last year’s co-champions College of Charleston and Western Carolina were picked first and second, respectively. Charleston picked up five first-place votes, totaling 86 points. WCU received the remaining three first-place votes for 77 points.

Elon (68), The Citadel (55), Appalachian State (54), UNC Greensboro (51), Wofford (33), Furman (27) and Davidson (19) rounded out the poll.

The Eagles return eight starters in the field and have seven pitchers returning off last year’s 34-28 squad. The SoCon coaches are predicting GS to bounce back from its 13-14 league record, the only time in Rodney Hennon’s 10-year head coaching career his team finished below .500 in conference play.

Parker, who will also see time at catcher and is capable of playing in the outfield, finished last year with a huge power surge. The senior hit five of his team-leading 13 home runs during a three-game span, from the regular season finale through the first two SoCon Tournament games.  He finished the year ranked 68th nationally in slugging percentage (.637) and 75th in home runs. Parker ended his junior year as the Eagles leader in home runs, second in hit by pitches (14) and batting average (.324), third in doubles (17) and RBI (46).

Shehan started last year at third base but during the final month of the season made the switch to the outfield. He led the Eagles posting a .341 batting average. Shehan ranked 10th among the SoCon leaders in hits (1.37) and was tied for fourth in doubles (21, 0.34). He started in all but one game and ranked second on the team in several other offensive categories, including: RBI (50), home runs (10) and stolen bases (12-of-15).

Blackburn made an immediate impact last year, seeing time at first base in addition to designated hitter. The left-handed power hitter posted a .288 batting average and .517 slugging percentage, along with six doubles, seven home runs and 25 RBI. He started in 28 of his 44 games played.

The Eagles open the 2008 campaign on Friday, February 22nd, against Boston College. First pitch in the three-game series is scheduled for 7 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium. Georgia Southern begins SoCon play at home on March 21-23, playing host to Western.

Category: Baseball

Published on Wednesday, 13 February 2008 00:26