by MOBILE, Ala. – Nearly 400 University of South Alabama student-athletes were recognized for their accomplishments in the past year both in and out of competition at the seventh annual Pete Tolbert Night of Champions Wednesday at the Mitchell Center, with the highest honors going to a pair of individuals who helped lead their team to Sun Belt Conference championships.
Nini Rabsatt-Smith (Montgomery, Ala.) was selected the Jaguar Female Student-Athlete of the Year after helping the soccer program to its third straight league title as well as first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, while All-American pitcher Kevin Hill (Muscogee Creek Nation) was named the Jaguar Male Student-Athlete of the Year following a season in which he helped lead the baseball team to the regular-season conference championship. The honor is annually presented to the most outstanding individuals based on scholarship, athletic ability and citizenship.
This season Hill has a 7-1 record, 2.06 earned-run average and 90 strikeouts in 78.2 innings as the Jaguars have put together a 31-11 overall record and 16-2 mark in SBC action while entering the top 25 of the national polls. The senior earned All-America honors from three different organizations last spring, and was also chosen the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year, after going 10-0 with a 1.73 ERA while fanning 107 batters as South claimed the regular-season conference championship. He has a 3.01 GPA as an interdisciplinary studies major.
Hill was one of two individuals to pick up multiple department awards after also claiming Jimmy Taylor Scholarship Award presented to a student-athlete who has exhausted their eligibility, maintained an outstanding GPA and achieved significant athletic accomplishment.
