Senior Richie Daigle was selected to the second team All-American along with senior Jason Willard and sophomore Justin Rickett, who were both selected as honorable mention. In addition, junior Ryan Gurley was named to the Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete team.
Lauderdale, a second baseman from Roswell, led the Southern States Athletic Conference in seven statistical categories and was one of the Saints top hitters all season. His 110 runs scored, 113 hits, 75 RBIs, 173 total bases, nine sacrifice flies, and 38 stolen bases led the conference. He also ranked in the top 10 in home runs, doubles, on base
percentage, slugging percentage, and batting average. Lauderdale hit safely in 58 of his 72 games this season and had 30 multi-hit games.
Along with being named first team All-American, he was selected to the first team All-Region, SSAC All-Conference team, named Player of the Week on April 18, and was also named to the SSAC All-Academic Team.
Daigle, a right fielder from Alpharetta, batted .359 and led the SSAC in home runs with 16. He also finished second in the conference in RBIs (73) and is third in runs scored (81) and hits (91). Daigle has batted .365 in conference games and hit nine of his 16 homers against conference opponents. In his two seasons with the Saints, he has hit 24 home runs and accounted for 109 RBIs.
Daigle was also selected to the All-Region and All-Conference team this season.
Willard, a starting pitcher from Columbus, Ga., posted a 13-3 overall record in 16 starts and a 2.30 ERA for the Saints this season. He led the conference in wins and finished second in strikeouts (97), third in opposing batting average (.213), and fifth in ERA. In 98 innings pitched, he allowed only 25 earned runs and pitched two shutouts. He was named conference Pitcher of the Week on April 12 after pitching a two hit shutout against Southern Polytechnic State University. Willard was also selected to the All-Region and All-Conference team this season.
Rickett, a third baseman from Cumming, batted .386 and hit safely in 46 of the 55 games he started. At one point during the season, he hit safely in 15 straight games from March 10 to April 2. Rickett posted 23 multi-hit games this year and was second on the team in batting average and led the team in on base percentage (.511) as well as ranking in the top five in seven different statistical categories. Rickett was also selected to the All-Region and All-Conference team this season.
Gurley, a left fielder from Jefferson, was selected to the Scholar-Athlete team. Gurley is majoring in Biology and started in 71 of the 72 games for North Georgia this season. He batted .353 with four home runs, 64 RBIs, and 54 runs. Gurley was one of five student/athletes selected to the team from the SSAC. Student/athletes must have a GPA of 3.5 or better to be selected for the Scholar-Athlete team.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/6/133077