FORT MYERS, Fla. – The 2014 Sun Conference Baseball Tournament Presented by Martz Transportation was unofficially kicked off on Thursday evening with the All-Conference Awards Banquet where the 2014 edition of the league honor roll was announced. 34 student-athletes from eight of the conference’s 10 baseball teams were represented on the All-Conference teams. In addition, the league’s Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Champion of Character award winners were announced. The awards were nominated and voted on by the league’s 10 baseball coaches.
Conference regular season champion and tournament No. 1 seed Embry-Riddle led all teams with six first team All-Conference honorees while Southeastern placed a total of eight players on the first and second teams.
The Sun Conference Player of the Year award went to Southeastern’s Bryan Muniz. The junior first baseman becomes the first Fire baseball player to earn the league’s Player of the Year award. Muniz hit .396 on 74 hits with 23 doubles, a triple and four home runs for 39 RBIs while scoring 42 times and swiping 13 bases. Muniz drew 27 walks and was hit by a pitch 15 times, putting his on-base percentage at .502. The Hialeah, Fla. native ranks in the top 50 of the NAIA in 10 categories, including second with 23 doubles, third in total chances (474), fourth in putouts (435) and 16th in total hits (74).
League Pitcher of the Year honors were claimed by St. Thomas’ Eddie Cody. The senior right-hander posted an 8-1 overall record with a 1.57 ERA in 12 appearances for the Bobcats. A native of Lantana, Fla., Cody boasts an impressive seven complete games in 11 starts with two shutouts in 86.0 innings of work. Cody has struck out 75 batters and has allowed just 15 earned runs and nine walks with a .228 batting average against.
Randy Stegall of Embry-Riddle was selected as the Rick Smoliak Coach of the Year award recipient. The award, which had previously been unnamed, was dedicated in perpetuity to former Northwood Head Coach Rick Smoliak after he passed away earlier this spring. Stegall led the Eagles to their seventh consecutive Sun Conference regular season title in 2014, finishing 22-5 in league play and 34-17 overall. The award is the fifth Sun Conference Coach of the Year award for Stegall, he has also been named the NAIA-Rawlings East Region Coach of the Year in each of the previous six seasons.
The league’s Champion of Character award went to Warner’s Jimmy Diven. A sophomore from Spring Hill, Fla., Diven has consistently worked with the Lake Wales Challenger Little League, a baseball league for special needs children. Diven has a leadership role in his church and mentors both high school and junior high youth. His Royals’ teammates voted to give him the Spiritual Leadership Award as an underclassman. Diven boasts a 3.81 GPA in Biology and his Head Coach Jeff Sikes had this to say about Jimmy: “Jimmy is the complete definition of the type of individual that should be considered a Champion of Character. He is a walking and breathing example of the five Core Character Values of Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Sportsmanship, and Servant Leadership.”
26 student-athletes were also named to the Academic All-Conference team, representing all 10 of the league teams.
The conference tournament begins on Friday when top-seeded Embry-Riddle takes on sixth-seeded Warner at 11 a.m. No. 2 Southeastern will play No. 5 Webber International at 3 p.m. before the nightcap of third-seeded Thomas and fourth-seeded St. Thomas at 7 p.m. All the games of the 2014 Sun Conference Tournament will be played at the City of Palms Park.
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First Team All-Conference
C - Darryl Knight, Embry-Riddle
C - Conor Sullivan, Ave Maria#
DH - Austin AuBuchon, Webber International*
1B - Bryan Muniz, Southeastern*
2B - Ricky DeArmas, Southeastern
3B - Justin Burgess, Warner
SS - Luis Diaz, Southeastern
UTL - Tyler Palmer, Thomas
OF - Edwin Medina, St. Thomas
OF - Jerry Downs, St. Thomas
OF - Kevin Lindheim, Embry-Riddle*
OF - Liam Goodall, Embry-Riddle
P - Daniel Poncedeleon, Embry-Riddle
P - Stetson Nelson, Embry-Riddle*
P - Eddie Cody, St. Thomas#
P - Emilio Ogando, St. Thomas
RP - David Lidyard, Embry-Riddle
Second Team All-Conference
C - Andrew Crane, Thomas
C - Aldo Ferrante, Southeastern
DH - Anthony Dovale, Warner
1B - Shae Cothran, Webber International
2B - Sergio Perez, Warner
3B - Stetson McCollin, Southeastern
SS - Jake Desuyo, Thomas
UTL - Ramon Sanchez, Webber International*
OF - Trey Griffin, Thomas
OF - Matt Kianka, USCB
OF - Blake Cilwick, USCB#
OF - JJ Crespo, USCB
P - Andres Cancio, Southeastern
P - Corey Tufts, Embry-Riddle
P - Patrick Kinney, Southeastern
P - Josh Ganus, Webber International
RP - Tyler Murphy, Southeastern
*2013 First Team All-Conference
#2013 Second Team All-Conference
Player of the Year: Bryan Muniz, Southeastern
Pitcher of the Year: Eddie Cody, St. Thomas
The Rick Smoliak Coach of the Year: Randy Stegall, Embry-Riddle
Champion of Character: Jimmy Diven, Warner
Academic All-Conference
Kolbe Andrade, Ave Maria
Liam Goodall, Embry-Riddle
Stetson Nelson, Embry-Riddle
Phil Chen, Florida Memorial
Blake Martinez, Florida Memorial
Michael Purtell, Florida Memorial
Andrew Danner, Northwood
Joshua Silverman, Northwood
William Pozo, Northwood
Ryder Albright, Southeastern
Mac LeBoeuf, Southeastern
Jonathan Martin, Southeastern
Adam Duarte, St. Thomas
Andres Hernandez, St. Thomas
Christian Olivia, St. Thomas
Brandon Pomeranz, St. Thomas
Brent Slaughter, Thomas
John Gainey, Thomas
Josh Bruijn, Thomas
Charlie McGinnis, South Carolina Beaufort
Erik Armstrong, South Carolina Beaufort
Jon Andrews, South Carolina Beaufort
James Diven, Warner
Carlos Gonzalez, Warner
Dylan Price, Webber International
Chris Suto, Webber International