by NEW ORLEANS – University of South Alabama baseball right-hander Kevin Hill (Muscogee Creek Nation) was named the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year the league announced Tuesday.
Hill was also named to the preseason all-conference team, along with team-mate Danny Martinez who was honored as a designated hitter.
South Alabama was picked to finish second in the SBC by the league’s coaches and received three first-place votes, while Louisiana-Lafayette was tabbed to win the conference with eight first-place votes.
Hill was named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year last season, and received second-team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball, and third-team All-America accolades by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings. He was also an ABCA/Rawlings first-team all-South Central Region selection. He led the SBC in ERA (1.73), opposing batting average (.208), strikeouts (107), runs allowed (20) and wins (10), and tied for the league lead in earned runs allowed (18). He ranked tied for 13th nationally in wins and 19th in ERA.
The Oklahoma City, Okla., native finished 10-0 with a 1.73 ERA in 13 appearances, all of which were starts, and struck out 107 batters against 38 walks in 93 2/3 innings pitched. Hill tossed four complete games and two shutouts last year, and posted quality starts in 10 of his 13 appearances. He went 8-0 with a 1.56 ERA in 10 starts in SBC contests, and struck out 85 batters against 30 walks in 75 innings pitched in league games. He also tossed four consecutive complete games against Sun Belt opponents from April 10-May 8.
