Baseball teams closes season with praise and USA South awards
As the baseball season came to a close on Sunday, April 22 with a 4-2 loss against Methodist, the Scots celebrated their many victories and individual team awards. Earlier in the season the team had a 26-5 record and No.17 national ranking.
While the season ending is bittersweet for the seniors who are ending their student athlete careers, the team still brought home many awards for their hard work.
Senior Evan Ezell won one of the highest honors with a USA South Postgraduate Scholarship. Ezell won the award, along with fellow senior Samm Chandler from Averett University, on Friday, April 20 at the USA South Spring Festival Banquet in LaGrange, Ga.
“That’s a pretty exciting moment, because it’s kind of something that captivates what I’ve done here at college, which is be a student-athlete,” Ezell said in a release from MC athletics. “The award is not only for just my participation in the USA South Athletic Conference, but also for something that I’ve done in the classroom.”
Ezell has maintained a 3.93 GPA while majoring in computer science. He interned at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) during his summers. ORNL is the nation’s largest multi-program science and technology laboratory, according the lab’s website.
Ezell will be attending the University of Tennessee Bredesen Center Data Science and Engineering PhD Program in the fall. He will be focusing his studies on urban systems science applications and large data systems using various data collection tools.
Ezell has been a four year starter, and has tallied a .324 batting average with 109 career hits.
Other Scots players received honorable awards these past weeks as well. On Tuesday, April 17, the USA South Athletic Conference has announced its 2018 All-Conference awards for baseball. Three Scots were named, with Johnny Carpenter making First-Team, and Hayden Hollingsworth and Mike Homan earning Honorable Mention nods.
“We are really excited for each of these guys,” Head Coach Cody Church said in a release for MC athletics. “Johnny has been such a great player for us in his time here, and I am thrilled to see him going out with this type of honor. I’m really excited for Mike and Hayden, because I think this type of honor is one that can springboard them into the rest of their time in Maryville. While these individuals had great numbers, they are very well aware that their success is a direct correlation of the positions into which their teammates have put them. These are always great honors for our entire group of players on our team.”
The Scots senior Caleb Adams was named MC’s All-Sportsmanship honoree. All the sportsmanship honors received on Tuesday were determined by votes from the baseball coach at each institution.
The 2018 baseball season has brought the Scots home and the students welcome them back and praise all their hard work this season.