2018 All-Conference USA Awards
IRVING, Texas — A quartet of WKU Baseball student-athletes earned spots on All-Conference USA Teams, the league announced Tuesday afternoon. Votes were complied from each C-USA head coach and sports information director, as well as one designated media voter from each market.
2018 All-Conference USA Honors
Junior Jacob Rhinesmith, CF, First Team
Senior Steven Kraft, 2B, Second Team
Senior Ben Morrison, RP, Second Team
Luke Brown, RF, All-Freshman Team
The four honorees are the most by a Hilltopper squad since the program joined the league prior to the 2015 season. WKU, Rice and Louisiana Tech are the only three programs in C-USA to have at least one player on the First, Second, All-Freshman and All-Academic Teams.
Rhinesmith slashed .306/.383/.555, leading WKU with 14 homeruns, 13 stolen bases, 116 total bases, 43 RBI and 45 runs scored. He was only 1-of-9 players in Division I with at least 13 homeruns and 13 stolen bases. He led the Hilltoppers with 23 multi-hit and 11 multi-RBI games.
Kraft hit .382 overall and .409 in C-USA action, both ranking second in the league. He reached base at a .507 clip in C-USA games and .483 overall, which was the best mark by a WKU hitter dating back to at least 2005. He led the Hilltoppers with 65 hits, 13 doubles and 29 walks.
Morrison had a 1.29 ERA with 31 strikeouts across 28 innings in C-USA action, allowing only 20 hits for a .189 batting average against. His 2.21 ERA overall across 36.2 frames ranks second among Hilltoppers pitchers (with 35-plus innings) dating back to at least 2005. He also had a career-high seven saves.
Brown led *ALL* C-USA hitters with a .415 average in league action, the second-best mark dating back to 2011. He hit .369 overall, ranking third in C-USA and fifth among freshmen in Division I. He slashed .425/.447/.472 with 18 multi-hit efforts over the final 30 games.
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