Conference USA has announced its 2017 preseason baseball awards, as chosen by the league’s 12 head coaches.  Rice sophomore shortstop Ford Proctor has been chosen as the preseason Player of the Year, while Owls junior right-hander Glenn Otto was named the preseason Pitcher of the Year.  Rice was chosen as the favorite to win the league’s championship.  The Owls have won either the regular season or tournament championship in 10 of its 11 years as a member of C-USA.

2017 Preseason Awards and Poll
 
In his debut season of Division I baseball, Proctor started 61 of Rice's 62 games at shortstop, earning C-USA Freshman of the Year honors and multiple Freshman All-America honors.  He batted a steady .336 for the full season and was electric in the Owls' run to the final game of the C-USA Tournament, hitting two home runs and totaling seven RBI with a .700 slugging percentage.  Proctor ranked among the C-USA leaders in batting average (.336) and hits (75), and he finished as high as eighth in the league in on-base percentage (.428) and tied for ninth in walks (34). The Beaumont, Texas, native also led the Owls in RBI (41), slugging (.471) and multiple-hit games (19), tallying a career-high three hits in a game on six different occasions, while hitting safely in 18 consecutive games at one point.
 
Otto posted a sensational season with the Owls in 2016, earning first team All-Conference USA honors as a relief pitcher.  The junior right-hander tallied eight saves as well as a 9-2 record in 33 appearances out of the bullpen.  He maintained a 2.26 ERA in 71.2 innings and held opposing hitters to a composite .209 batting average.  The Spring, Texas, native averaged 9.5 strikeouts per 9.0 innings with a 2.5-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.  Otto was named to the watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award.
 
Proctor and Otto were joined by junior RHP Ricardo Salinas and senior OF Charlie Warren on the preseason All-Conference USA team, giving Rice a league-high four selections.  Salinas grew into a role as a weekend starter last spring, particularly the second half of the season, posting a 9-2 overall record with a 3.39 ERA.  He tied for the conference lead in wins with teammate Glenn Otto, while finishing third on the team, and tied for sixth in the league in games started (14).  Salinas native ranked seventh in C-USA in opponents' batting average (.226), ninth in ERA, tenth in innings (82.1), and eleventh in strikeouts (64).  Warren led the team and finished eighth in Conference USA in batting average at .341.  He finished second on the Owls in on-base percentage (.408), and reached base in a team-leading 21-consecutive games during one stretch.  He drew at least one walk in 19 different games and tied for second on the team in hits (62) despite missing four weeks of the season with a hand injury.
 
Defending regular season champion Florida Atlantic and reigning tournament champ Southern Miss were picked to finish second and third, respectively, with each receiving several first place votes.  FAU is represented on the preseason team by utility player Sean Labsan, an outfielder and starting pitcher.  Labsan batted .268 with five home runs, 23 RBI and a .436 slugging percentage.  On the mound, he made 11 appearances (10 starts), compiling a 5-1 record with a 1.96 ERA, striking out 39 batters in 46.0 innings pitched.  USM placed a trio of players on the preseason team in junior LHP Kirk McCarty and junior infielder Taylor Braley and senior infielder Dylan Burdeaux. 
 
McCarty, who moved from Sunday to Saturday in the Golden Eagles' weekend rotation, finished 6-1 with a 3.27 earned run average. His 89 strikeouts ranked fourth in the league.  Braley should be back at 100 percent this spring after injuring his knee on April 2 and missing the rest of the season.  He held a .323 batting mark with 10 home runs and 31 RBI at the time, becoming the first Southern Miss player since 2013 to reach the double-digit mark in homers.  Burdeaux, a 2016 All-C-USA selection as an outfielder is moving to first base. He led the league with 59 runs scored, while ranking third in hits (86), tenth in slugging percentage (.529) and 12th in RBI (52).  Burdeaux topped the Golden Eagles with 11 home runs, while hitting .335 with 13 doubles.
 
Old Dominion was selected fourth, just ahead of 2016 NCAA participant Louisiana Tech.  The Bulldogs also placed three players on the preseason All-C-USA squad in senior RHP Casey Sutton, junior C Brent Diaz and junior UT Jonathan Washam.  Sutton led all C-USA pitchers last season with a 1.91 ERA in 84.2 innings pitched while holding opposing hitters to a .235 average.  He posted an 8-1 record on the mound for the Bulldogs in 17 appearances and tossed three complete games, two of which were shutouts.  Six of Sutton’s eight wins came against C-USA opponents, while the right-hander pitched into at least the sixth inning in eight of his nine starts.  Diaz batted .273 over the course of 60 games, registering 50 hits with 29 runs scored.  He added eight doubles, three triples, five home runs and 31 RBI, while slugging at a .432 clip.  Washam was named second team All-Conference USA as a designated hitter/utility player in 2016 after he finished the regular season with a .309 batting average in his first season with the Bulldogs.  Washam played in 56 games with 43 starts and totaled 51 hits, 12 doubles, a triple and two home runs over the course of the season. The junior drove in 27 RBI and posted a .375 on base percentage.
 
FIU and Charlotte were selected to finish in a tie for sixth place, with the 49ers placing three on the preseason team.  Preseason All-American junior IF Brett Netzer led the 49ers by hitting .384 on the year in 2016 while placing second in runs, hits, RBI, doubles, triple, home runs and walks.  On C-USA weekends, Netzer hit .376 leading the team in that category and hits, runs and doubles.  He recorded 24 multi-hit games and was inside the league's top-five in doubles (17), average, on base percentage (.461), hits (81), slugging percentage (.555) and toughest to strikeout.  Netzer is joined by senior IF Logan Sherer and senior OF T.J. Nichting on the team.  Sherer shattered his personal record book in 2016 hitting .336 with 12 home runs and 52 RBI.  Named to Conference USA's second team and the ABCA All-Atlantic region squad, Sherer finished second in the league for slugging percentage (.574), home runs (12) and RBI (52), third in total bases (128), fourth in runs scored (48), 10th in average and hits (75).  Nichting had an impressive junior season in 2016, leading the 49ers in hits, doubles, two-out RBI and multi-hit games.  The switch hitter posted a career best 17-game hit streak during the second half of the year and finished the campaign with 34 runs scored and 33 RBI.  Nichting led all of Conference USA in doubles (23), sat sixth in hits (82) and placed fifth in hitting (.358).
 
Rounding out the preseason members is UTSA senior OF Jesse Baker, a 2015 All-American that missed all of last season.  He led the club in several offensive categories that season, batting .330 (ninth in Conference USA) with a team-best 71 hits, 21 doubles (second in C-USA), 15 home runs, a league-leading 137 total bases and a C-USA-best .637 slugging percentage.  Baker topped the team with 22 multiple-hit games and 12 outings with two or more RBI.
 
The 2017 Conference USA baseball season begins Friday, February 17.  The league sent four teams to the NCAA Baseball Championship last season and ranked No. 5 among all conferences in 2016.
 

2017 PRESEASON BASEBALL AWARDS

(as selected by C-USA’s head coaches)
 

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

1.            Rice (5)                
2.            Florida Atlantic (4)
3.            Southern Miss (3)
4.            Old Dominion
5.            Louisiana Tech
6.            Charlotte
               FIU
8.            Marshall
9.            UAB
10.          Middle Tennessee
               UTSA
12.          WKU
   (first place votes in parentheses)
 

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Ford Proctor, Rice (Sophomore, IF)
 

PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Glenn Otto, Rice (Junior, Right-hander)
 

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

P                Kirk McCarty                                Jr.             Southern Miss
P                Ricardo Salinas                           Jr.             Rice
P                Casey Sutton                               Sr.            Louisiana Tech
RP              Glenn Otto                                   Jr.             Rice
C                Brent Diaz                                    Jr.             Louisiana Tech
IF                Taylor Braley                               Jr.             Southern Miss
IF                Dylan Burdeaux                           Sr.            Southern Miss
IF                Brett Netzer                                 Jr.             Charlotte
IF                Ford Proctor                                So.            Rice
IF                Logan Sherer                               Sr.            Charlotte
OF              Jesse Baker                                 Sr.            UTSA
OF              T.J. Nichting                                 Sr.            Charlotte
OF              Charlie Warren                            Sr.            Rice
DH/UT       Sean Labsan                               Sr.            Florida Atlantic
DH/UT       Jonathan Washam                       Sr.            Louisiana Tech