Chris Mederos Headlines Eagles' All-SoCon Picks
5/18/2009 8:40:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Junior right-hander Chris Mederos (Valdosta/Gordon College) headlined Georgia Southern Baseball’s All-Southern Conference picks, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. The league office announced the selections on Monday (May 18).
Mederos was a First Team pick at starting pitcher. Senior Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) earned Second Team honors at catcher. Infielder Eric Phillips (Carrollton/Carrollton) along with pitchers Matt Murray (Spring City, PA/Owen Roberts) and Colin Snow (Alpharetta/Alpharetta) were named to the SoCon All-Freshman Team.
Improving to 10-1 on the year following his win over Wofford last Friday, Mederos lowered his ERA to 4.00 in 81 innings pitched. In his first year with the program, he has struck out 94 batters to 26 walks allowed and opponents are batting .270. Mederos started the year off 8-0 (including a complete game win over Coppin State), tying for sixth place in GS history for consecutive wins. He struck out six or more batters in 11 of his 13 starts this year.
Overall he continues to lead the SoCon in wins and strikeouts while ranking third in innings pitched and fourth in ERA. He is the first Eagle pitcher to earn First Team honors since Everett Teaford (2005-06) and just the fifth this decade.
Despite being one of 13 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award (given to the nation’s top catcher) and the only representative from the Southern Conference, Benedict earned Second Team honors behind the plate. His .415 batting average ranks fourth in the SoCon, and he enters the week third with a .534 on-base percentage. He is on the verge of becoming just the 13th player in program history to hit .400 in a season, and for the second time in his career he recorded 50 runs scored/50 RBI.
Benedict has scored 59 runs and driven in 54 this season, along with his 14 doubles and 10 home runs. The senior has also walked (31) more times than has struck out (23), and ranks third nationally getting hit by a pitch 22 times. Benedict was a Second Team pick last year as well.
Phillips has started at every infield position this year, batting .345 with 39 runs scored, 12 doubles, three home runs, 40 RBI and 15 walks to 15 strikeouts in 171 at-bats. Phillips owns a .981 fielding percentage. He leads the team batting .413 in league play.
Murray has held down the number three starter role this year, and brings a 5-3 record into the SoCon Tournament. The right-hander started in 12 of his 14 appearances and struck out 49 batters in 66.2 innings, posting a 5.13 ERA. Four of his five wins came in league play.
Snow proved to be a valuable arm mainly out of the bullpen. The right-hander owns a 4-2 record and 3.15 ERA in 40 innings. He made three starts in 16 appearances, striking out 32 to 17 walks and recording a .280 opponent batting average.
The second-seeded Eagles (38-15 overall) open up the 2009 Southern Conference Tournament, playing in the 9 a.m. game on Wednesday (May 20) against seventh-seed Davidson. All games will be played at Flour Field in Greenville, South Carolina.
