HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Sam Houston’s Colton Cowser is the 2021 Southland Conference Baseball Player of the Year, the league announced Monday along with all-conference selections. Southland yearly awards are presented by Ready Nutrition.
Infielder Jack Rogers was named an All-Southland Conference Second Teamer while pitcher Dominic Robinson landed on the All-SLC Third Team.
In conference play, Cowser tied for the league lead with 11 home runs and ranked second in slugging percentage (.667), on-base percentage (.470) and runs scored (37). He registered 13 multi-hit performances in 33 games against Southland foes, including a four-hit effort against New Orleans on April 10. In addition to earning his second career first-team All-Southland honor, Cowser was voted to the all-defensive squad at center field.
Abilene Christian outfielder Colton Eager earns Hitter of the Year recognition after pacing the league in slugging percentage (.669), hits (56) and total bases (99) and finishing third in batting average (.378) and RBI (39) in conference action. A fixture in the Wildcat lineup, he appeared in all but one of the team’s 53 contests and tallied 18 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI games.
Pitcher of the Year goes to McNeese redshirt sophomore Will Dion, who tied for the league lead with seven wins and ranked third in ERA (2.25) and strikeouts (68) against Southland opponents. Seven of his nine starts in league play went down as quality starts, including picking up wins in each of his last four starts to close out the year. In that span, Dion had a 1.38 ERA with 32 strikeouts and just four walks. He also landed on the all-defensive team with a perfect fielding percentage and 12 assists.
Relief Pitcher of the Year Tyler Cleveland of Central Arkansas had a hand in 15 of the team’s 23 wins with six wins and nine saves on the year, with all six wins and five saves in conference play. He tied for the league lead with 14 games finished and ranked fourth in strikeouts (66) against conference opponents. Cleveland was named the Southland Pitcher of the Week on April 26 after picking up two wins and a save and totaling 18 strikeouts over 12 innings of work in three appearances.
Dazzling in his first year on the bump for Southeastern Louisiana, Brennan Stuprich garners Freshman of the Year honors after going 6-2 with a league-best 2.17 ERA and three complete games in 11 starts. He led the conference in innings pitched (68) and ranked second in ERA (2.12) against league competition. Stuprich picked up Southland Pitcher of the Week laurels on April 12 following eight scoreless innings against conference champion Abilene Christian.
Abilene Christian’s Grayson Tatrow is the league’s Newcomer of the Year after ranking second in runs scored (36) and posting the conference’s third-best marks in slugging percentage (.610) and total bases (83). The Paris College transfer totaled 14 multi-hit games in league play and rattled off an 11-game hit streak from April 25-May 16. In Southland games, Tatrow tied for fifth with eight home runs.
Rick McCarty is tabbed the 2021 Clay Gould Coach of the Year after leading an Abilene Christian squad that won just five games in 2018 to the program’s first conference title with a 25-13 mark and the first Southland Conference Baseball Tournament appearance since 1968. The Wildcats paced the league in nearly every offensive category against conference foes, including a .305 team batting average.
Abilene Christian, New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana lead the way with six all-conference selections each, followed by Lamar and McNeese with five and four, respectively. Northwestern State and Sam Houston each earned three spots, while Central Arkansas, UIW, Nicholls and Stephen F. Austin each had one honoree.
McNeese accounted for a league-leading three spots on the all-defensive team, and Lamar placed two on the squad. Representatives from New Orleans, Sam Houston, Southeastern Louisiana and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The all-conference teams are nominated and voted on by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors. Voting for oneself or one’s own athletes is not permitted.
Player of the Year: Colton Cowser, Sam Houston
Hitter of the Year: Colton Eager, Abilene Christian
Pitcher of the Year: Will Dion, McNeese
Relief Pitcher of the Year: Tyler Cleveland, Central Arkansas
Freshman of the Year: Brennan Stuprich, Southeastern Louisiana
Newcomer of the Year: Grayson Tatrow, Abilene Christian
Clay Gould Coach of the Year: Rick McCarty, Abilene Christian
