By Scotty Rouse
The Piedmont Pride placed 8 players on the 2016 Southern Collegiate Baseball League all-star team. The team will play a round-robin series this weekend in Atlanta with the Sunbelt and Florida Collegiate Leagues. The SCBL will play the Sunbelt All-Stars at 8:00PM Saturday night, and the Florida All-Stars at noon on Sunday. Games will be played at Georgia Gwinnett College.
The Pride, who sit in first place with a 26-6 record, led the league with 8 players, followed by the SBA Bones with 7, the Carolina Vipers with 5, the Lake Norman Copperheads with 4, the Concord Weavers with 4, and Team Charlotte with 2.
Head Coach Joe Hudak was pleased with his team’s representation. “I think all-stars are a great way to reward players who have preformed well”, Hudak stated. “However, there will always be players who deserve to be an all-star and don’t make it, just from a numbers standpoint. I’m certainly pleased with the 8 Pride players who made the team. They certainly deserve the recognition, but we also know we probably had some others who were deserving as well.”
The Pride players who made the team were:
Willis Dobison – Pitcher from Walterboro, SC and Limestone College
Record of 3-0 with 4 saves and a 1.15 ERA
Jonathan Embry – Infielder from Louisville, KY and Liberty University
Hitting .282 – Leads the league with 4 triples and 28 walks
Jason Goe – Pitcher from Dry Ridge, KY and Morehead State University
Record of 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA
Derek Horton – Outfielder from Forest, VA and Liberty University
Hitting .281 – Tied for league lead with 6 HR’s – Third in league with 25 RBI’s
Bailey Montoya – Catcher from Farmersville, OH and the University of Dayton
Hitting .200 – Among the league leaders in throwing out potential base stealers
Connor Pate – Pitcher from McColl, SC and Francis Marion University
Record of 3-0 with a 3.93 ERA
Chandler Redmond – Firstbaseman from Middletown, MD, and Gardner-Webb University
Hitting .351, which is second in league – Leads the league with 31 RBI’s and tied for lead with 6 HR’s
Caleb Robinson – Thirdbaseman from McLeansville, NC and Western Carolina University
Hitting .338, which is fourth in the league – Has 6 2B, 2 HR, and 17 RBI
Fans can listen to the games by going to the Southern Collegiate Baseball League website and clicking on the listen link.
