Postseason Awards 2016 Standings the Numbers
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American Athletic Conference Baseball Report June 8, 2016 @American_BSB Contact: Chuck Sullivan, Assistant Commissioner for Communications [email protected] • 401.453.0660 • @ChuckSullivan15 15 Park Row West • Providence, RI 02903 2016 STANDINGS THE NUMBERS AMERICAN OVERALL 2016 Batting Leaders SCHOOL W L T PCT H A W L T PCT H A N STREAK Avg Tulane 15 7 0 .682 6-5 9-2 41 21 0 .661 23-8 13-8 5-5 Lost 1 1. Dwanya Williams-Sutton .359 East Carolina 15 8 1 .646 6-5-1 9-3 37 21 1 .636 20-10-1 15-9 2-2 Won 3 UConn 14 9 0 .609 7-4 7-5 38 25 0 .603 14-5 15-17 9-3 Lost 2 2. Corey Julks .332 Cincinnati 13 10 1 .562 7-5 6-5-1 26 30 1 .465 18-6 8-14-1 0-9 Lost 2 3. Joe Davis .331 Houston 11 12 0 .478 7-5 4-7 36 23 0 .610 23-9 8-10 5-4 Lost 1 4. Travis Watkins .321 Memphis 9 15 0 .375 4-9 5-7 22 39 0 .361 10-17 7-17 5-5 Lost 1 5. Garrett Brooks .321 USF 8 16 0 .333 3-9 5-7 24 33 0 .421 17-15 6-16 1-2 Lost 2 6. Kevin Merrell .320 UCF 8 16 0 .333 4-8 4-8 26 33 0 .441 18-12 7-17 1-4 Lost 1 7. Willy Yahn .319 POSTSEASON AWARDS Player of the Year Joe DeRoche-Duffin • Sr. • OF • UConn DeRoche-Duffin emerged as the most prolific power hitter in The American in his Super Regional • Lubbock, Texas American Athletic Conference Championship senior year as he finished the 2016 season with a Friday, June 10 Bright House Field • Clearwater, Fla. league-leading 17 home runs with 55 RBIs. He had East Carolina at Texas Tech (ESPNU) 8 p.m. 62 hits, including 32 that went for extra bases, and Tuesday, May 24 finished second in the conference with a .549 slugging Saturday, June 11 Game 1 – No. 5 Houston 9, vs. No. 4 Cincinnati 1 percentage. DeRoche-Duffin became the first UConn East Carolina at Texas Tech (ESPNU) 3 p.m. Game 2 – No. 1 Tulane 4, No. 8 UCF 3 player to be named as a conference player of the year Friday, June 12 (if necessary) since 2011, when George Springer was the Big East’s East Carolina at Texas Tech (ESPN2/ESPNU) 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 25 top honor. He finished the season one home run shy Game 3 – No. 7 USF 4, No. 2 East Carolina 2 of The American’s single-season record of 18. Game 4 – No. 3 UConn 6, No. 6 Memphis 2 Gainesville Regional • Gainesville, Fla. Game 5 – UCF 7, Cincinnati 6 (10 innings) Friday, June 3 Pitcher of the Year UConn 7, Georgia Tech 6 Anthony Kay • Jr. • LHP • UConn Thursday, May 26 Kay became the second straight UConn Game 6 – Memphis 5, East Carolina 4 Saturday, June 4 player to be named asThe American’s Pitcher Game 7 – Houston 5, Tulane 3 Florida 6, UConn 5 of theYear after Carson Cross took last year’s Game 8 – UConn 9, USF 1 honor. Kay finished the season with a 9-2 record, a Sunday, June 5 2.65 earned-run average and 111 strikeouts in 119.0 Georgia Tech 7, UConn 5 Friday, May 27 innings. He was particularly effective in conference Game 9 – Tulane 5, UCF 0 games as he went 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA in eight starts Game 10 – Memphis 7, USF 5 against league opponents. Oxford Regional • Oxford, Miss. Friday, June 3 Saturday, May 28 Boston College 7, Tulane 2 Game 11 – Houston 6, Tulane 2 Rookie Position Player of the Year Game 12 – Memphis 9, UConn 5 Joe Davis • Fr. • 1B • Houston Saturday, June 4 Game 14 – UConn 5, Memphis 0 Davis was chosen as The American’s Rookie Tulane 6, MIssissippi 5 Position Player of the Year as he led the conference with 58 RBIs, was third in batting (.331) Sunday, June 5 Sunday, May 29 and was second in home runs (13) as a true freshman. Tulane 4, Utah 1 Game 15 – UConn 7, Houston 2 Boston College 6, Tulane 3 Davis also finished as the conference leader with 138 All-Tournament Team total bases in 2016. P Anthony Kay, UConn Charlottesville Regional • Charlottesville, Va. P Nick Hernandez, Houston Rookie Pitcher of the Year Friday, June 3 C Jake Rogers, Tulane Tim Cate • Fr. • LHP • UConn East Carolina 9, Bryant 1 IF Bryan Daniello, UConn Cate was tabbed as The American Rookie Pitcher of the Year as he went 5-1 with a Saturday, June 4 IF Aaron Hill, UConn East Carolina 8, Virginia 6 IF Bobby Melley, UConn 2.73 earned-run average in 13 starts for the Huskies. IF Brandon Grudzielanek, Memphis He struck out 101 batters in 82.1 innings, an average Sunday, June 5 OF John Toppa, UConn of 11.04 per nine innings, which ranks as the best mark East Carolina 8, William & Mary 4 OF Zac Taylor, Houston in the conference. OF Connor Wong, Houston all times Eastern UTY Joe Davis, Houston Coach of the Year Jim Penders • UConn Most Outstanding Player Penders was named American Athletic Anthony Kay, P, UConn Conference Coach of the Year for the first time, and earned his fourth conference coach of the year accolade, after he led the Huskies to a third-place finish as UConn went 14-9 in The American. UConn went on to win the conference tournament title and advance to the NCAA Championship. AMERICAN NOTEBOOK Introductions Back On Top The American Athletic Conference is in its third season Tulane won the American Athletic Conference regular- THE RECORD BOOK as a baseball-playing entity in 2016. The conference season title as the Green Wave finished percentage features eight members who play eight three-game points ahead of second-place East Carolina. It was The American’s single-game records (through June 5). conference series. Each team faces six teams once and Tulane’s first conference title for Tulane since the 2005 At Bats one team twice during the course of conference play. Conference USA crown. 9 Chris Iriart, Houston vs. Rice, 5/31/15 Kyle Survance, Houston vs. Rice, 5/31/15 Big Three Jake From Plate Farm Three American Athletic Conference teams were Tulane catcher Jake Rogers has thrown out 27 of the Runs Scored selected to the 2016 NCAA Championship. UConn 43 runners who have attempted stolen bases against 5 Matthew Mika, UCF vs. Siena, 2/20/16 won The American’s automatic bid to the tourna- him. Rogers did not allow a runner to steal during ment, while Tulane and East Carolina were chosen the American Athletic Conference Championship as Hits as at-large selections. opponents were 0-for-4 against him. 6 Tommy Williams, UCF vs. Bethune-Cookman, 3/17/15 Frankie Ratcliff, Houston vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Lucky Seven The Kay Zone 3/5/14 Under its current, eight-team configuration, The UConn southpaw Anthony Kay — the 2016 American American has had seven NCAA tournament teams in Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year — has won his Runs Batted In the last two seasons. The conference sent four teams last seven decisions of the 2016 season. Kay’s last loss 8 Eric Tyler, East Carolina vs. Jacksonville, 3/26/16 to the 2015 NCAA regionals (East Carolina, Houston, was March 25 against Columbia. 7 Darien Tubbs, Memphis vs. Belmont, 4/21/15 USF, Tulane) and three to the 2016 touranment. Buddy Putnam, USF vs. Cincinnati, 3/29/15 Youth Revolution Matt Diorio, UCF vs. Jacksonville, 3/24/15 Back In Business East Carolina outfielder Dwanya Williams-Sutton Eli Putnam, UCF vs. Cornell, 3/27/16 UConn made its first NCAA tournament appearance became the first freshman to lead the American since the 2013 season, when the Huskies won the Big Athletic Conference in batting (.359) and is second in Doubles East’s automatic bid. the conference in slugging (.563). 3 Grant Kay, Louisville vs. Samford, 3/14/14 Justin Montemayor, Houston vs. Cincinnati, 4/25/14 Justin Montemayor, Houston vs. Cincinnati, 4/27/14 Pedigree Regular Occurrance Cole Sturgeon, Louisville vs. Vanderbilt, 5/6/14 Current members of the American Athletic Confer- UConn made its fourth NCAA regional apperance in Blake Davey, UConn vs. William & Mary, 3/18/15 ence have made a combined nine appearances in the the last seven years. Tommy Williams, UCF vs. East Carolina, 4/26/15 College World Series. UConn leads the conference Blake Davey, UConn vs. East Carolina, 5/1/15 with five appearances, while Houston and Tulane Not Getting Any Younger Willy Yahn, UConn vs. Austin Peay, 2/27/16 have made two appearances each. Houston was the Cincinnati, which had the youngest roster in Division Travis Watkins, East Carolina vs. Memphis, 4/16/16 national runner-up in 1967. The last team among The I baseball last year, has three seniors, two juniors, 12 Darien Tubbs, Memphis vs. Tulane, 5/15/06 American’s current membership to reach the CWS was sophomores and 14 freshmen on its squad this sea- Tulane, which advanced to Omaha in 2005. son. The Bearcats, who were picked to finish eighth Triples in The American’s preseason coaches poll, ended up 2 Luke Maglich, USF vs. Rhode Island, 3/16/14 Houston and Louisville both advanced to the Super fourth in the final standings.