Piedmont sophomore Brady Ballstadt has been named USA South Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Year with the release of the league awards.
Ballstadt's award marks the first major baseball award given to Piedmont by the USA South. The Suwanee, Ga. native has a .386 batting average to go along with his 51 hits, 36 RBI, 36 runs, 23 stolen bases and five homeruns. The junior also has a .468 on-base percentage and a .644 slugging percentage.
Against USA South opponents, Ballstadt finished with a league-leading 33 hits, five home runs, 62 total bases and a .795 slugging percentage.
In addition to being named Player of the Year, Ballstadt, an outfielder, was also named first-team All-Conference for the second-consecutive season.
The Lions also placed three other players on the first-team list. Andrew Burden earned honors at first base while Sam Carpenter and Buddy Green earned honors for their pitching this season.
Burden posted a league-leading .436 batting average and finished fourth in the conference with 39 RBI. The junior also registered 51 hits and was second in the conference with 30 walks.
Carpenter appeared in the 10 games this season and recorded a 6-1 record for the Lions. For the season, the sophomore pitched 61.2 innings and allowed 63 hits and 19 runs to finish the regular season with a 2.48 ERA. Carpenter also recorded 57 strikeouts.
Green appeared in 16 games for PC and posted a 1-1 record and a league-leading seven saves. In 16.2 innings pitched, the senior allowed 12 hits, five runs and had 18 strikeouts. Green's highlight of the season came in the first week of April as he had one save in a doubleheader against Berry and three saves in two days against Maryville.
Piedmont had one other All-Conference player in Noah Heatherly. The sophomore was an honorable mention selection after appearing in 26 games as a catcher. The sophomore finished with a .256 batting average and had 21 hits, 18 RBI, 20 runs and eight stolen bases.
Senior Drew Coker was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team.
Ferrum's Jacob Holland was named Pitcher of the Year while Tom Austin from Methodist was named Coach of the Year. Jack Layrisson of LaGrange was Rookie of the Year and Drew Tubb from N.C. Wesleyan was Rookie Pitcher of the Year.
