The WKU Baseball team had a huge day Tuesday, without even stepping foot onto the field. Five Hilltoppers received honors from the 2011 Sunbelt Conference baseball awards, with four of those receiving selection to All-Sunbelt Conference Teams. Matt Rice (.352 BA, 9 HR’s, 56 RBI’’s) and Kes Carter (.341 BA, 7 HR’s, 53 RBI’s) were first-team All-SBC selections, while Tanner Perkins and Jared Andreoli received second-team All-SBC honors. However, the fun didn’t stop there. Justin Hageman earned the title of SBC Freshman of the Year. Hageman pitched a stellar freshman campaign finishing the regular season 8-5 with a 3.22 ERA. He also finished the season 3rd in the SBC with 81 strikeouts and his 8 wins ranked 4th in the SBC and was enough to make him the winningest freshman pitcher in WKU history. These awards clearly demonstrate that WKU is an elite team within the Sun Belt Conference and will continue to be for years to come.
However, all of these honors were overshadowed by an even bigger announcement. WKU Catcher Matt Rice was named to the 2011 Capital One First-Team Academic All American. However, the big news did not stop there for Matt Rice. He was named the Capital One Academic All-American of the Year, and his academic achievements definitely qualified him for this highly selective title. In his four years at WKU, Matt Rice demonstrated what it truly means to be a student athlete. Many college athletes lose sight of what it means to be a student athlete, but Rice finished his Bachelorette degree in Mechanical Engineering with a 4.0 GPA, while displaying a just as impressive on-the-field performance. Rice became the all time WKU leader in hits (304) and RBIs (220) and these feats combined with his stellar academic record makes Matt Rice the 2011 Capital One Academic All-American of the Year.
WKU hopes to carry this success into the conference tournament, which begins on Wednesday. WKU, the number 4 seed, will take on the number 5 seed FAU. Florida Atlantic defeated the Hilltoppers in last year’s conference tournament 9-8 and have won 3 of the 5 times the two teams have ever met in the Sun Belt Tournament. However, the Tops will look to change this. The two teams only met once this year, and WKU won the series taking 2 of the 3 games at Nick Denes Field. In the series the pitching staff performed very well with a 3.00 ERA. Pitching looks to be the key in this matchup as well, as WKU will send Sophomore Tanner Perkins (7-4, 2.32 ERA) to the mound while FAU will pitch Ryan Garton (5-4; 4.77 ERA). Matt Rice and the rest of the Hilltopper offense will also need to come alive. A loss tomorrow could be devastating to WKU’s chances to win the tournament. Unlike the double-elimination type tournament of previous years, this year’s tournament is based on pool play. For the first time ever, the tournament is divided into two pools of four teams. Each team in the tournament will play three games. Then the team with the best record in each pool will face off in the championship game. Thus one loss could be very costly. WKU’s pool also features #8 seed UALR (Thursday’s game) and #1 seed Troy (Friday’s game). The Tops first game begins Wednesday at 11 am at Warhawk Field in Monroe, LA.
Matt Rice Breaks 2 WKU Records
Video Courtesy of Hilltopper Video
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