SAN ANTONIO — After UTSA concluded its season in its third trip to the Conference USA Tournament in the last four seasons, head baseball coach Jason Marshall and the Roadrunners squad recently voted for six of the team's seven postseason awards, which will be presented at the 2018 First Pitch Banquet next February.
Marshall and the squad selected its recipients for Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player and the Boston Koger Spirit Award.
The final award, the Srp Family Academic Award, will be decided upon at the end of the fall semester.
Most Valuable Player — Kevin Markham
Markham topped the team with .338 batting average and was the 713th overall pick in the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. His team-high 77 hits included 21 doubles and a program single-season record tying eight triples. Markham scored 54 runs, blasted four home runs, stole five bases and walked 23 times. The Willis native reached base at a .411 clip and registered a .533 slugging percentage.
Offensive Player of the Year — Bryan Arias
A product of the San Antonio area, Arias paced the team in hitting for quite some time before ending up with a team third-best .323 average. He registered 74 hits and amassed 32 extra-base hits, including 11 home runs. Arias scored 55 runs, walked 24 times and stole seven bases for a .563 slugging percentage and .395 on base clip. He was named the Conference USA Player of the Week, the week of April 3, following an impressive performance at No. 21 Baylor, where he became the 15th player in program history to record five hits in a single game, and finished in the top 10 in the C-USA leaderboards in six categories.
Pitcher of the Year — Karl Craigie
Southpaw Karl Craigie put together a spectacular senior campaign, earning second team All-Conference USA honors, and was selected as the 1,019th overall pick in the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Craigie went 7-1 with a 2.86 ERA in 44 innings of work. His seven wins tied for fourth in C-USA. The Pflugerville native made 24 appearances, best for eighth in the league, and earned a save at Charlotte on May 14 to help UTSA secure the series win. Craigie registered 36 strikeouts this season, including season-best six against WKU, and allowed just four extra-base hits, all doubles on the year.
Defensive Player of the Year — C.J. Pickering
Senior C.J. Pickering became the all-around player for the Roadrunners after playing all but one infield position and earning a spot in the starting rotation. Pickering hit .284 in his final season in 57 games played and posted a 4.38 ERA in 17 appearances, including four starts. He racked up 60 hits, including 18 doubles and eight home runs, with 37 runs scored and 45 runs driven in. He also paced the team with five sacrifice flies, best for ninth in C-USA. On the hill, the right-hander logged 51.1 innings and registered 26 strikeouts. Pickering was also named to the C-USA Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team.
Most Improved Player — Ben Brookover
Another San Antonio product on the Roadrunners squad, Ben Brookover showed much improvement from his sophomore campaign as he batted .331 – mostly playing first base. Brookover appeared in 48 contests, starting 40, and tallied 54 hits. He added 24 runs scored with seven doubles, a triple and a pair of long balls with 32 RBI and three stolen bases. Brookover slugged .432 and reached base on a .418 clip. He held a team-best 14 game hit streak before having it snapped at home against Florida Atlantic and reached base safely in 34 consecutive games, also a team-high.
Boston Koger Spirit Award — J.T. Gilmore
A leader on and off the field, fifth-year senior J.T. Gilmore appeared in 27 games for the Roadrunners in his final season and put together a .222 batting average. Gilmore embodies everything a leader is, always communicating with the team and lending a helping hand. In 36 at-bats, Gilmore notched eight hits, including a double, scored eight times and drove in another three runs.
Srp Family Academic Award — TBA following Fall 2017 semester