The Big South Conference announced Wednesday morning the 2024 conference award winners featuring five Highlanders taking home end-of-season awards.
Kicking off the awards is leadoff hitter Cameron Pittman. The Suffolk, Va. native would be named to second-team all-conference for the first time in his career. Pittman would finish the season starting in all 48 games he played and in 185 at bats he would record a .357 batting average, the fifth highest in the Big South. He would also go on to tally 66 hits, the eighth most in the conference. He recorded eight triples to lead the conference in the category and have the fourth most in the NCAA. Pittman would also notch eight doubles, two home runs, 24 RBI, 96 total bases, 25 walks, 14 stolen bases, two sacrifice flies, a .519 slugging percentage and an on base percentage of .437.
Zack Whitacre would bring in two more awards for the Highlanders, garnering second-team all-conference and all-academic honors to close out his season. He started in three different positions in his 50 starts for the Highlanders recording the eighth best batting average in the conference at .346. He would also have a 0.435 on base percentage, a .539 slugging percentage and the tenth-best OPS in the conference at .974. With his 191 at bats, he would record 66 hits which tied for the sixth-most in the conference, 36 runs, 12 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 31 RBI, and 29 walks. He would also tally 103 total bases and finished top ten in the Big South for most stolen bases with 15. He won Big South Player of the Week on March 4 and May 20 and would finish his time as a Highlander with an undergraduate GPA of 3.41 and graduate GPA of 3.75.
Drew Stanley would be tabbed to second-team all-conference honors. He would appear in 18 games and pitched in 38.1 innings in relief, recording a 3.52 ERA. He would allow an opposing batting average of .240 and allow 28 runs with only 15 of them earned. In his time on the mound, he would garner 52 strikeouts, one win and three saves which tied for the sixth most in the Big South conference.
Conner Butler would plate the fifth award for the Highlanders being named to honorable mention all-conference. Butler has started in all 45 games that he has played this season and would slash .253/.333/.475. For his 162 at bats, he would accumulate 41 hits with 11 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 19 walks, 40 RBI, and 77 total bases. He would also record three sacrifice flies, four sacrifice bunts, and nine stolen bases on the season.
Wrapping up the final and sixth award for the Highlanders is freshman Breckin Nace being named to the all-freshman team.
As a pitcher, Nace appeared in 14 games with one start at the mound pitching in 11.1 innings with a 3.18 ERA. Nace would allow a .282 opposing batting average, seven runs with four earned and 11 strikeouts. As a hitter he appeared in 37 games with 16 starts to his name. He would record the sixth best batting average in the conference at .356, the fourth best on base percentage at .467, a .525 slugging percentage, and the ninth best OPS at .992. In his 59 at bats, Nace would also have 12 runs, 21 hits, five doubles, one triple, one homer, eight RBI, nine walks, and 31 total bases. Nace would also receive his first Big South Freshman of the Week award on May 20.
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