Baseball Picked to Finish Third in SoCon Race
2/13/2008 5:26:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO,
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.
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).
The Eagles open the 2008 campaign on Friday, February 22nd, against
