After posting one of the most impressive strikeout-to-walk ratios in the nation and helping his team win a second straight Conference USA regular season championship, Southern Miss junior RHP Nick Sandlin, was named the 2018 C-USA Pitcher of the Year. His Golden Eagle teammate, junior 3B Luke Reynolds, splashed onto the league’s scene this spring and became the first player to earn the Newcomer of the Year and Player of the Year awards in the same season.  The league’s baseball awards were announced on Tuesday in Biloxi, Mississippi, site of The 2018 Conference USA Baseball Championship, presented by The First. 

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FIU C Jose Garcia was named C-USA Freshman of the Year, while Florida Atlantic junior SS Tyler Frank won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award.  Southern Miss’ Scott Berry was named the Keith LeClair Coach of the Year for the second straight season, while Louisiana Tech Pitching Coach Cory Barton earned the Assistant Coach of the Year honor.
 
Sandlin has posted an 8-0 record this season in 13 starts and has fanned 122 batters, while having walked just 14.  His league-leading ERA of 1.25, WHIP and strikeout-to-walk ratios all rank in the Top 10 nationally.  Sandlin, who was 6-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 81 strikeouts in conference games, earned National Pitcher of the Week honors five times this season.  He is also a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the best player in college baseball.  Sandlin is the third different Southern Miss hurler (four times total) to be named C-USA Pitcher of the Year.
 
Reynolds leads Conference USA in seven different categories, including batting average (.403), on-base percentage (.558), slugging percentage (.749), total bases (143), runs scored (67), home runs (15) and walks (56).  He is tied for the lead in doubles with 19 and third in RBI with 58.  Reynolds, who enters the C-USA Championship having reached base in 28 consecutive games, has 25 multiple-hit and 22 multiple-RBI outings.  He is the second consecutive Southern Miss player to win the Player of the Year award after Dylan Burdeaux won it last season.
 
Garcia exploded on the C-USA scene with a powerful bat this spring.  More than half of his 46 hits have been for extra bases, with eight doubles, three triples and an FIU freshman record 13 home runs.  Garcia batted .271 with a .392 on-base percentage and placed seventh in C-USA with a .558 slugging percentage.  He also produced multiple hits and multiple RBI in 10 outings.  Garcia is the second Panther to be named C-USA Freshman of the Year, joining RHP Chris Mourelle in 2014.
 
Frank, a national Midseason All-American by multiple outlets, leads the Owls and ranks among the league leaders in multiple offensive categories in addition to his defensive prowess.  He has been the cornerstone of the Owls' defense at shortstop for almost every possible inning of the last two years.  Frank shows tremendous range and a strong and accurate arm, and ranks eighth in C-USA in assists (122) and within the top 20 (and just outside the top 15 excluding 1B) in double plays.
 
After leading Southern Miss to its fifth Conference USA regular season championship and second in a row, Berry earned the Keith LeClair Coach of the Year honor.  The Golden Eagles’ 23-6 mark in conference play gave them 48 league victories in the last two seasons, becoming the first school to win 23 or more games in back-to-back seasons.  The Golden Eagles have been ranked in the top 15 of the national polls all season, are the top hitting team in C-USA in eight categories, including average (.305) and runs scored (449) and have the third-lowest team earned run average (3.66).  Berry is the first skipper to be named the Keith LeClair Coach of the Year in consecutive years since Rice’s Wayne Graham won the award three straight times from 2006-08.  This is his third C-USA Coach of the Year honor, making him the third head coach to accomplish that in C-USA history.
 
In his first year at Louisiana Tech, Barton has guided one of the top pitching staffs in the nation to earn the Assistant Coach of the Year award.  LA Tech’s team ERA (3.32) has consistently ranked among the top 15 in the nation all year long, while setting the bar for C-USA.  Barton has guided a brand new starting staff to a combined 323.2 innings pitched – the best mark of any starting group in C-USA.  The Bulldogs own the best WHIP in C-USA (1.24-17th nationally), and second-best K-to-BB ratio in C-USA (2.93 – ninth nationally).
 
Florida Atlantic had the most first-team All-Conference selections with four, while Southern Miss was next with three.  Charlotte, Florida Atlantic and Louisiana Tech led the way with five total all-conference choices.  Nine of the league’s teams had at least one representative on the first team unit, while eight had second-team selections.  FIU, Louisiana Tech, Rice and UTSA each had two players on the All-Freshman team.  Voting was done by a panel consisting of each head coach, each team’s media relations director and a media representative from each city.
 

2018 CONFERENCE USA BASEBALL AWARDS
 
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Luke Reynolds, Jr., 3B, Southern Miss
 
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Nick Sandlin, Jr., RHP, Southern Miss
 
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Jose Garcia, Fr., C, FIU
 
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Luke Reynolds, Jr., 3B, Southern Miss
 
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Tyler Frank, Jr., SS, Florida Atlantic
 
KEITH LeCLAIR COACH OF THE YEAR
Scott Berry, Southern Miss
 
ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR
Cory Barton, Louisiana Tech