Benedict, Mederos Named First Team All-SoCon by SCSMA
5/19/2009 9:08:00 PM | Baseball
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Junior pitcher Chris Mederos (Valdosta/Gordon College) and senior Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) were named First Team All-Southern Conference by the Southern Conference Sports Media Association. The league office announced the selections on Tuesday (May 19).
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.
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's .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.
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 Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina.
