HIGH POINT, N.C. – North Greenville University's Utah Jones and Chowan University's Marquise Lanier have been named the 2019 Co-Conference Carolinas Player of the Year, while North Greenville's Tucker Burgess repeated as Pitcher of the Year. North Greenville's John Michael Faile earned the Conference's Freshman of the Year, while Barton College's Jim Chester won the Coach of the Year, the Conference announced today.

New to the Conference Carolinas postseason award offering is the Elite 23 Award. The Elite 23 Award is modeled after the NCAA's Elite 90 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at their respective championship site. The inaugural winner for baseball is University of Mount Olive's Reed Parris.

Jones, a senior from Stillwater, Okla., becomes the first Player of the Year from NGU after batting .392 during the regular season with a team-high 65 hits, including 14 doubles and five homers. In 45-games this season, Jones has posted a fielding percentage of .975 with 33 put-outs and 46 assists in 81-attempts.

Lanier, a senior from Warsaw, Va., is the first Chowan baseball player in program history to earn Conference Carolinas Player of the Year honors. Lanier finished second in the league with a .407 batting average with 13 doubles, 15 home runs, 44 RBI, and 11 stolen bases.

Burgess, a senior from Liberty, S.C., finished 2019 with the second-best earned run average in the league with a mark of 2.24, allowing just 68 hits in 80.1 innings pitched. Burgess punched out 86 batters via the strikeout and is 10-2 on the season overall.

Faile, a freshman from Boiling Springs, S.C., wins the second Freshman of the Year in NGU history after batting .409 with 61-hits, 14 home runs and 10 doubles to go along with 53 RBI and 38 runs scored.

Chester earns Coach of the Year honors after leading Barton to a 30-18 overall record and 17-9 league mark in 2019, a year after going 12-36 overall and 4-19 in league play in 2018.

Parris, a junior accounting major from Kinston, N.C., sports a cumulative 3.98 GPA. Parris registered seven wins and 73 strikeouts in 73 innings pitched.

All-Conference Carolinas First Team

1B – Adam Sasser, North Greenville

2B – Mason Dodd, Belmont Abbey

SS – Utah Jones, North Greenville

3B – Drew Yniesta, Erskine

C – John Michael Faile, North Greenville

DH – JT Stone, Mount Olive

OF – Marquise Lanier, Chowan

OF – Jakob Rolly Belmont Abbey

OF – Jeffrey Chandler, Jr., North Greenville

OF – Cory Everett, Erskine

SP – Michael Giacone, North Greenville

SP – Tucker Burgess, North Greenville

SP – Alex Calvert, Erskine

SP – Zack Bowers, Erskine

RP – Kipp Rollings, North Greenville

UTL – Joe Mason, Mount Olive
 

All-Conference Carolinas Second Team

1B – Cole Warken, Erskine

2B – Kyle Heiss, Erskine

SS – Jojo Allen, Barton

3B – Chase Allen, Limestone

C – Brayden Olsen, Barton

DH – Juan Martinez, Barton

OF – Tony Valdes, King

OF – Jacob Marcos, Barton

OF – Gunner Tolston, Mount Olive

OF – Ryan Creps, Limestone

SP – Reed Paris, Mount Olive

SP – Cooper Murphy, Emmanuel

SP – George Helbig, King

SP – Jakob Ryan, Barton

RP – Parker McPhail, Belmont Abbey

UTL – Jared Williams, North Greenville

Regular Season Baseball Champion

North Greenville University