Eight Gents Named All-SCAC; Preston Ludwick and Head Coach Mike Diaz Claim Major Awards
Tyler Cauley of Texas Lutheran University was voted the Offensive Player-of-the-Year and Preston Ludwick of Centenary College was selected the league’s Pitcher-of-the-Year in exclusive 2021 all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) voting by the conference’s head coaches.
CLEBURNE, Texas –- Tyler Cauley of Texas Lutheran University was voted the Offensive Player-of-the-Year and Preston Ludwick of Centenary College was selected the league's Pitcher-of-the-Year in exclusive 2021 all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) voting by the conference's head coaches. Complete Release
In the same balloting, Maxwell Mims of Southwestern University was named the conference's Freshman-of-the-Year, while Centenary head coach Mike Diaz earned SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors.
As for the All-SCAC team, Texas Lutheran led the way with a league-high five First Team selections while Centenary and Trinity University followed with four and three honorees, respectively. Centenary had the most combined selections (First/Second Team) with seven, followed closely by Texas Lutheran with six and Trinity with five.
Cauley, a senior outfielder from Baytown, Texas, leads the SCAC this season in home runs with 12 and is second in runs batted in with 43. If he were to finish as the league's home run leader, Cauley would become just the second player in league history and the first since Hunter Owen of Millsaps in 2007-2009 to lead the league in round-trippers three times in a career. He has slugged .661 this season (third in the SCAC) and is also in the top five in the league in total bases (84 – third), walks (28 – second) and sacrifice flies (9 – first). His 40 career home runs currently place him third on the SCAC all-time chart and his 194 RBIs are good for fifth. A 2018 D3baseball.com and ABCA Third Team All-America selection when he led the Bulldogs to a NCAA national runner-up finish, Cauley is the second TLU player to earn Offensive Player-of-the-Year accolades, following former teammate Riley Schaefer who received the honor following the 2018 season.
In what was an extremely close vote, Cauley received four first-place nods during the balloting process while senior first baseman Preston Ludwick of Centenary College trailed with three appearances atop the coaches' ballots. Senior outfielder Rafe Chaumette of Trinity received the remaining first-place vote.
Although he barely missed out on earning Offensive POTY honors, Ludwick was the clear choice among the coaches for Pitcher-of-the-Year. The senior right-hander from Pflugerville, Texas, who had made just nine appearances on the mound in his previous three years combined, heads into this weekend's conference tournament leading the league in both wins (eight) and strikeouts (73) and is second in earned run average (3.54), innings pitched (61.0) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.77). He has 22 more strikeouts than the next closest player in the league this season – his teammate Parker Primeaux. An obvious threat at the plate as well, Ludwick currently leads the SCAC in hits, runs batted in and batting average and is positioned to become the first player in league history to lead the conference in both a major offensive and pitching category in the same season. Ludwick is the third Centenary pitcher to earn Pitcher-of-the-Year honors in the Gents' short time in the conference, following previous winners Taylor Henry (2015) and Matthew Devillier (2017).
Ludwick received six votes in the SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year balloting while sophomore left-hander Travis Harvey of Southwestern received the remaining two first-place votes.
Mims, a first-year outfielder from Friendswood, Texas, is currently sixth in the conference and leads all first-year players with a .383 batting average, and is also ranked in the top 10 in slugging percentage (.609 – fourth), runs scored (38 – eighth), hits (44 – ninth), triples (five – second), runs batted in (37 – eighth), total bases (70 – ninth) and stolen bases (18 – third). In conference games, Mims was even more effective, leading all first-year players with a .418 batting average, 45 total bases, 28 hits, 24 runs scored and 10 stolen bases. In the 13 years that the SCAC has been recognizing the league's top first-year player, Mims is the first Southwestern player to earn the award.
Maxwell received five votes from the coaches in the Freshman-of-the-Year balloting, while first-year designated hitter Tyler Post of Texas Lutheran picked up the remaining three votes.
Centenary head coach Mike Diaz has led the Gents to a 30-9 mark this season, marking just the second time in the Division III era (2012-present) and the 10th time in school history the program has reached 30 wins in a single season. Heading into this weekend's conference tournament, Centenary is one of just four programs in the nation to reach the 30-win plateau. Currently ranked No. 24 in the nation by D3baseball.com, the Gents won a program record 18-straight games from March 4 to April 6 and reached as high as No. 14 in those same rankings. This year's squad is five wins away from matching the Division III era single season record for wins accomplished by the 2017 team which won the SCAC championship and earned an NCAA Tournament berth. In his 17th season overall and 11th as head coach of the Gents, Diaz currently sports a 249-175-1 overall mark (.587) and, earlier this season, became one of just six coaches in SCAC baseball history to win 100 or more conference games. This marks the fifth time in his career Diaz has earned SCAC Coach of the Year honors, having previously been recognized in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2018. He was also named the West Region Coach of the Year by D3Baseball.com in 2017.
2021 SCAC Player-of-the-Year
Tyler Cauley, Texas Lutheran University, Senior, Outfielder, Baytown, Texas
2021 SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year
Preston Ludwick, Centenary College, Senior, Pitcher/First Baseman, Pflugerville, Texas
2021 SCAC Freshman-of-the-Year
Maxwell Mims, Southwestern University, First-Year, Outfielder, Friendswood, Texas
2021 SCAC Coach-of-the-Year
Mike Diaz, Centenary College, 30-9 Overall Record (14-7 SCAC) / No. 24 in the nation
For the complete 2021 SCAC All-Conference baseball team, click here.
