Three Bucs honored with first-career postseason laurels

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Nick Chinners, Tyler Thornburg and Charlie McCready all earned postseason awards by the Big South Conference, the league announced today at the annual award ceremony. Chinners and Thornburg both made the All-Conference Second Team, and McCready was named to the All-Academic Team.

The honors were the first postseason laurels for all three members of the Charleston Southern baseball team, and the awards for Chinners and Thornburg mark the first time since 2006 that multiple Buccaneers have made an all-conference team in the same campaign.

Chinners became just the second first basemen in school history to receive a postseason honor (Jeremy Weber, 1997 Second Team).

The rising senior finished the season second in the league in batting average (.385), fourth in putouts (407) and tenth in hits (79). He had a ridiculous .448 batting average and a .510 on-base percentage against Big South opponents, which were both third best in the league. He was also fourth in the conference with a .678 slugging percentage.

Thornburg put together an amazing season on the mound for the Buccaneers to become the sixth pitcher in school history to earn a postseason honor.

He led the Big South in opposing batting average (.212) and finished second in the conference in both strikeouts (88) and strikeouts per appearance (10.11).

He was in the top five in the league with his two complete games and just four home runs allowed. He boasted a 5-4 record and a 4.14 earned run average. His ERA was eighth in the league, and he finished 10th in innings pitched (78.1).

McCready made 16 appearances on the mound for Charleston Southern, and he started in eight games. He threw 48.1 innings overall and finished conference action third on the team with a 5.40 earned run average.

McCready became a reliever in the second half of the season and was dominant down the stretch. In his final seven appearances coming out of the bullpen, the rising junior allowed just seven earned runs over 13.2 innings. He had two relief appearances that lasted more than four innings, and only allowed one hit and no runs in two trips to the mound against Liberty University.

McCready has a career grade point average of 3.95, while majoring in biology. He was the top scholar athlete of the year for baseball his freshman season, has made the Dean’s List three times and was on the Big South Presidential Honor Roll in 2008-09.

2010 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

FIRST-TEAM
SP        Anthony Meo, Soph., RHP, Coastal Carolina
SP        Cody Wheeler, Jr., LHP, Coastal Carolina
SP        Shawn Teufel, R-Sr., LHP, Liberty
RP       Matt Rein, Jr., LHP, Coastal Carolina
C          Jose Iglesias, Sr., Coastal Carolina
1B       Jordan Ballard, Sr., VMI
2B       Tommy La Stella, R-Soph., Coastal Carolina
3B       Scott Woodward, Jr., Coastal Carolina
SS        Taylor Motter, Soph., Coastal Carolina
DH       Matt Hillsinger, Soph., Radford
OF       Nate Roberts, Jr., High Point
OF       Rico Noel, Jr., Coastal Carolina
OF       Matt Gantner, Sr., High Point
 
SECOND-TEAM
SP        Tyler Thornburg, Jr., RHP, Charleston Southern
SP        Matteo D’Angelo, Jr., RHP, Winthrop
SP        Ryan Dull, Soph., RHP, UNC Asheville (tie)
SP        Jaime Schultz, Fr., RHP, High Point (tie)
RP       Ryan Connolly, Fr., RHP, Coastal Carolina
C          Nathan Thompson, R-Sr., Liberty (tie)
C          Alex Haitsuka, Jr., VMI (tie)
1B       Nick Chinners, R-Jr., Charleston Southern
2B       Cory Spangenberg, Fr., VMI
3B       Tyler Bream, Soph., Liberty
SS        Matt Williams, Soph., Liberty
DH       Eddie Rohan, Jr., Winthrop
OF       Curran Redal, Sr., Liberty
OF       Reggie Keen, Sr., Radford
OF       Graham Sullivan, Jr., VMI

ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Charlie McCready, Soph., Charleston Southern
Austin Fleet, R-Sr., Coastal Carolina
Aaron Miller, Jr., Gardner-Webb
Sal Pezzino, Soph., High Point
Nathan Thompson, R-Sr., Liberty
Nate Horton, Jr., Presbyterian College
Jason Patten, Soph., Radford
Justin Schumer, Sr., UNC Asheville
Alex Haitsuka, Jr., VMI
Matt Thielepape, Sr., Winthrop

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nate Roberts, Jr., OF, High Point

PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Anthony Meo, Soph., RHP, Coastal Carolina (unanimous)

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Cory Spangenberg, 2B, VMI

COACH OF THE YEAR
Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Austin Fleet, R-Sr., Coastal Carolina