May 19, 2015
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss senior right-handed pitcher James McMahon (Hattiesburg, Miss.) highlighted the Conference USA awards for the Golden Eagles Monday in an announcement made by the league office.
In a vote by a panel consisting of each head coach, each team's media relations director and a media representative from each city, McMahon became only the second Golden Eagle pitcher to garner the award as Todd McInnis won it in both 2009 and 2011. This is the second major award won by McMahon in as many days as on Monday he was tabbed with the C Spire Ferriss Trophy as the top collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi.
McMahon also earned first-team honors, while first baseman Tim Lynch was a second-team selection. Both Taylor Braley and Kirk McCarty were members of the All-Freshman team.
Southern Miss assistant coach Michael Federico was named the Assistant Coach of the Year.
McMahon improved to 11-1 on the season with a victory in the Golden Eagles' regular-season finale, tying him for second place on the school's single-season charts in wins. He leads Conference USA with a 1.72 ERA, is tied for the lead with three complete games and ranks second in opposing batting average at .203. McMahon has registered 55 strikeouts and walked 21 batters, while allowing just one home run in 83.2 innings pitched. He finished the year going 8-1 in nine Conference USA starts and had nine quality starts in a total of 14 during the campaign.
As the Southern Miss pitching coach, Federico mentored one of the best staffs in the conference to earn the Assistant Coach of the Year award. Golden Eagle pitchers have combined to post a 3.17 ERA, tied for first in Conference USA. Southern Miss has posted a school-record nine shutouts during the season (second-most in C-USA history) and the pitching staff has fanned 357, while walking just 158 in 466.1 innings. The starting corps has posted 30 quality starts in 52 games and the team is 29-1 when leading after six innings, 32-0 when leading after seven and 30-0 when leading after eight innings.
Lynch leads the Golden Eagles in all three major offensive categories including batting average (.333), home runs (9) and runs batted in (32). He has made just two errors at first base for a .996 fielding percentage. In C-USA, he is sixth in slugging percentage (.544), eight in on-base percentage (.420) and sixth in home runs.
Braley collected a .307 batting average with 11 doubles, three homers and 25 RBI during the season and at one point in April has hit average at .400 on the year. As for McCarty, the left-handed pitcher posted a 4-1 record with a 4.09 earned run average over 50 2/3 innings. He fanned 31 and walked just 15 and registered one of his victories against nationally ranked Florida Atlantic.
Outfielder Brendon Sanger of Florida Atlantic was selected as the league's Player of the Year, while outfielder Ryan Chandler of Rice was the Freshman of the Year, outfielder Ronnie Jebavy and mentor Jim Maguire were the Newcomer and Coach of the Year, respectively.
The Golden Eagles will open play in the 2015 C-USA Baseball Championship, presented by Petro Nissan, Wednesday, May 20, in a 7:30 p.m, contest at Pete Taylor Park.
2015 CONFERENCE USA BASEBALL AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brendon Sanger, Jr., OF, Florida Atlantic
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
James McMahon, Sr., RHP, Southern Miss
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Ryan Chandler, Fr., OF, Rice
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Ronnie Jebavy, Jr., OF, Middle Tennessee
KEITH LECLAIR COACH OF THE YEAR
Jim McGuire, Middle Tennessee
ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR
Michael Federico, Southern Miss
FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
IF Jesse Baker, Jr., UTSA
IF CJ Chatham, So., Florida Atlantic
IF Edwin Rios, Jr., FIU
IF Ford Stainback, Sr., Rice
OF Ronnie Jebavy, Jr., Middle Tennessee
OF Anderson Miller, Jr., WKU
OF Brendon Sanger, Jr., Florida Atlantic
C John Bormann, Sr., UTSA
DH/UT John Clay Reeves, Sr., Rice
SP James McMahon, Sr., Southern Miss
SP James Naile, Sr., UAB
SP Austin Orewiler, Jr., Rice
SP Jordan Stephens, Jr., Rice
RP Matt Ditman, Sr., Rice
SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
IF P.J. Higgins, Jr., Old Dominion
IF Danny Hudzina, Jr., WKU
IF Tim Lynch, Jr., Southern Miss
IF Ricky Santiago, Sr., Florida Atlantic
OF Roman Collins, Jr., Florida Atlantic
OF Brad Jarreau, So.., Middle Tennessee
OF Brian Portelli, Sr., FIU
OF Kirby Taylor, Sr., Rice
C Esteban Tresgallo, Jr., UAB
DH/UT Adam Lau, Jr., UAB
SP Chase Boster, So., Marshall
SP Nate Hoffmann, Jr., Middle Tennessee
SP Drew Jackson, Sr., Florida Atlantic
SP Phil Maton, Sr., Louisiana Tech
SP Sam Sinnen, So., Old Dominion
RP Danny Dopico, Jr., FIU
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
C Ryan Miller, Florida Atlantic
C Brent Diaz, Louisiana Tech
IF Taylor Braley, Southern Miss
IF Zach Rutherford, Old Dominion
OF Ryan Chandler, Rice
OF Trent Bowles, UTSA
OF Brett Netzer, Charlotte
RHP Blake Stansberry, Middle Tennessee
LHP Kirk McCarty, Southern Miss
RHP Chance Kirby, UTSA
LHP Ryan Ruggles, UAB