USC’s Gene Cone named to All-SEC baseball first team
South Carolina had six players honored by the SEC on Monday when the baseball awards were announced by the conference, including Gene Cone, who was named first-team All-SEC.
USC ace Clarke Schmidt was named second-team All-SEC, while pitchers Braden Webb and Adam Hill were joined by first baseman LT Tolbert and catcher Chris Cullen on the All-Freshman team.
Cone finished the regular season with a .348 batting average with 11 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 22 RBIs. The junior hit .391 in SEC games and had a 31-game hitting streak earlier this year, breaking the school record.
Schmidt is 9-2 with a 2.72 ERA and struck out 108 batters with 20 walks in 96 innings. Schmidt is second in the SEC in strikeouts behind Webb.
Webb finished the regular season 10-4 with a 3.33 ERA. The freshman leads the SEC in strikeouts with 109, and finished with 88 league strikeouts, the most ever by a Carolina pitcher.
Hill finished the regular season 6-0 with a 3.64 ERA. He was inserted into the weekend rotation early in the year after opening the season as the midweek starter.
Cullen played in 45 games at catcher, with 37 starts, and is hitting .361 with 11 doubles, one homer and 21 RBIs.
Tolbert is a natural middle infielder, but has played first base for most of the year and is hitting .215 in 49 games with 47 starts.
2016 SEC Baseball Awards
Player of the Year: Boomer White, Texas A&M
Pitcher of the Year: Logan Shore, Florida
Freshman of the Year: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
Coach of the Year: John Cohen, Mississippi State
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Derek Lance, Tennessee
First Team All-SEC
C: Henri Lartigue, Ole Miss
1B: Nathaniel Lowe, Mississippi State
2B: Ryne Birk, Texas A&M
3B: Boomer White, Texas A&M
SS: Kramer Robertson, LSU
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: J.B. Woodman, Ole Miss
OF: Gene Cone, South Carolina
*DH/UT: Jack Kruger, Mississippi State
*DH/UT: Bryce Jordan, LSU
SP: Logan Shore, Florida
SP: Dakota Hudson, Mississippi State
RP: Shaun Anderson, Florida
Second Team All-SEC Team
C: Mike Rivera, Florida
*1B: Peter Alonso, Florida
*1B: Evan White, Kentucky
2B: Tate Blackman, Ole Miss
3B: Nick Senzel, Tennessee
SS: Dalton Guthrie, Florida
OF: Anfernee Grier, Auburn
OF: Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt
OF: Jeren Kendall, Vanderbilt
DH/UT: Brent Rooker, Mississippi State
SP: Kyle Wright, Vanderbilt
SP: Clarke Schmidt, South Carolina
RP: Mark Ecker, Texas A&M
Freshman All-SEC Team
*C: Chris Cullen, South Carolina
*C: Michael Curry, Georgia
1B: LT Tolbert, South Carolina
2B: Deacon Liput, Florida
3B: Jonathan India, Florida
SS: Connor Kaiser, Vanderbilt
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Antoine Duplantis, LSU
OF: Chandler Taylor, Alabama
DH/UT: Ethan Paul, Vanderbilt
SP: Braden Webb, South Carolina
SP: Adam Hill, South Carolina
RP: Sean Hjelle, Kentucky
SEC All-Defensive Team
C: Mike Rivera, Florida
1B: Evan White, Kentucky
*2B: Cole Freeman, LSU
*2B: Ryne Birk, Texas A&M
3B: Nick Senzel, Tennessee
SS: Dalton Guthrie, Florida
OF: Buddy Reed, Florida
OF: Anfernee Grier, Auburn
OF: J.B. Woodman, Ole Miss
*P: Jordan Sheffield, Vanderbilt
*P: Kyle Simonds, Texas A&M
*P: Dustin Beggs, Kentucky
This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 3:27 PM.