FORT MYERS, Fla. – Oscar DePablos of Northwood and Justin Zinkovich of Embry-Riddle were honored Saturday evening as The Sun Conference Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, at the conference tournament opening banquet. Embry-Riddle’s head coach, Randy Stegall was named the Coach of the Year for his second consecutive season.
DePablos led the conference hitting .478 on the season with 76 hits, 35 runs scored, 18 doubles and 46 RBI. Zinkovich was the first conference pitcher to reach double-digits in wins and ended the regular season with an 11-0 record and a 1.74 ERA to lead the league.
Stegall led the Eagles to their second consecutive conference title with a 20-4 record. The Eagles are ranked No. 7 in the latest NAIA Top-25 Coaches Poll going into the conference tournament.
The Sun Conference Baseball Tournament will be held at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, with the first game starting at 11 a.m. on May 3, when the No. 1 seed Embry-Riddle faces off against the No. 6 seed Webber International. The 3 p.m. game will feature No. 2 Warner against No. 5 St. Thomas. In the evening game (7 p.m.), No. 3 SCAD will face No. 4 seed University of South Carolina-Beaufort.
The All-Conference team consisted of 16 members, nominated and voted on by The Sun Conference coaches. The team consisted of:
1B – Dan Smith, Warner
2B – Patrick Braswell, SCAD
3B – Charles Thomas, Edward Waters
SS – Morgan Turknett, Edward Waters
UT/SS – Alvaro Bastos, St. Thomas
C – Austin Goolsby, Embry-Riddle
C – Cory Johnson, Warner
OF- Aaron Tea, Embry-Riddle
OF –Jared Mathis, Webber International
OF- Oscar DePablos, Northwood
OF – Kyle LaMotta, Florida Memorial
DH – Brent Coleman, Florida Memorial
P – Justin Zinkovich
P – Eddie Anderson, SCAD
P – John Durham, Warner
RP – Aaron Varnum, Embry-Riddle
Pitcher of the Year – Justin Zinkovich, Embry-Riddle
Player of the Year – Oscar DePablos, Northwood
Coach of the Year – Randy Stegall, Embry-Riddle
For more information on The Sun Conference Baseball Tournament
CLICK HERE.