Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Aucker Named Preseason All Conference USA
1/24/2018 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
IRVING, Texas – With just a few weeks until opening day, Blue Raider senior Aaron Aucker was pegged for the preseason All-Conference USA squad on Wednesday, chosen by C-USA coaches.
"It's great recognition for Aaron," said Coach Jim McGuire. "It's very well deserved, too – he had a tremendous season last year, and he's one of our leaders."
At the DH spot, Aucker was the most powerful Blue Raider offensive player last season, hitting a team-high two triples and 10 home runs. He also led Middle Tennessee with a .641 slugging percentage (third in C-USA) and .448 on-base percentage (ninth in C-USA).
Aucker, who was also named First Team All-Conference USA in 2017, finished second on the team with a .359 batting average and 41 RBIs.
"It's always nice to get that recognition at the beginning of the season, but I'm more focused on having a good year as a team and getting to the conference tournament," said Aucker.
The Blue Raiders were picked in the preseason to finish ninth in the conference standings. However, there is confidence on campus and among the team that they'll exceed that mark and make their first conference tournament since 2015.
"Conference USA is such a competitive conference. Your top three or four are fairly consistent based on performance from the year before," McGuire said. "Everybody can say these rankings don't mean anything, but I hope it does to our guys so there's some added motivation thrown in there.
"We're a young team, but we're also an incredibly talented team, so I'm looking forward to seeing us grow throughout the season," Aucker added.
The 2018 campaign starts Feb. 16 at Reese Smith Jr. Field when the Blue Raiders host Western Illinois. Conference play for the Blue Raiders will begin March 16 when MT travels to Bowling Green to face WKU.
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Southern Miss (11)
2. Rice (1)
3. Florida Atlantic
4. Old Dominion
5. FIU
6. Charlotte
7. Louisiana Tech
8. UTSA
9. Middle Tennessee
10. Marshall
11. UAB
12. WKU
(first place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Matt Wallner, Southern Miss (Sophomore, OF/P)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Nick Sandlin, Southern Miss (Junior, RHP)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P Matt Canterino, So. Rice
P Nick MacDonald, So. FIU
P Jake Miednik, Sr. Florida Atlantic
RP Nick Sandlin, Jr. Southern Miss
C Dominic DiCaprio, Jr. Rice
IF Bryan Arias, Jr. UTSA
IF Tyler Frank, Jr. Florida Atlantic
IF Ford Proctor, Jr. Rice
IF Vinny Pasquantino, So. Old Dominion
OF Kyle Battle, So. Old Dominion
OF Mason Irby, Sr. Southern Miss
OF David Miranda, Sr. Florida Atlantic
OF Matt Wallner, So. Southern Miss
DH/UT Aaron Aucker, Sr. Middle Tennessee
"It's great recognition for Aaron," said Coach Jim McGuire. "It's very well deserved, too – he had a tremendous season last year, and he's one of our leaders."
At the DH spot, Aucker was the most powerful Blue Raider offensive player last season, hitting a team-high two triples and 10 home runs. He also led Middle Tennessee with a .641 slugging percentage (third in C-USA) and .448 on-base percentage (ninth in C-USA).
Aucker, who was also named First Team All-Conference USA in 2017, finished second on the team with a .359 batting average and 41 RBIs.
"It's always nice to get that recognition at the beginning of the season, but I'm more focused on having a good year as a team and getting to the conference tournament," said Aucker.
The Blue Raiders were picked in the preseason to finish ninth in the conference standings. However, there is confidence on campus and among the team that they'll exceed that mark and make their first conference tournament since 2015.
"Conference USA is such a competitive conference. Your top three or four are fairly consistent based on performance from the year before," McGuire said. "Everybody can say these rankings don't mean anything, but I hope it does to our guys so there's some added motivation thrown in there.
"We're a young team, but we're also an incredibly talented team, so I'm looking forward to seeing us grow throughout the season," Aucker added.
The 2018 campaign starts Feb. 16 at Reese Smith Jr. Field when the Blue Raiders host Western Illinois. Conference play for the Blue Raiders will begin March 16 when MT travels to Bowling Green to face WKU.
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Southern Miss (11)
2. Rice (1)
3. Florida Atlantic
4. Old Dominion
5. FIU
6. Charlotte
7. Louisiana Tech
8. UTSA
9. Middle Tennessee
10. Marshall
11. UAB
12. WKU
(first place votes in parentheses)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Matt Wallner, Southern Miss (Sophomore, OF/P)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Nick Sandlin, Southern Miss (Junior, RHP)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P Matt Canterino, So. Rice
P Nick MacDonald, So. FIU
P Jake Miednik, Sr. Florida Atlantic
RP Nick Sandlin, Jr. Southern Miss
C Dominic DiCaprio, Jr. Rice
IF Bryan Arias, Jr. UTSA
IF Tyler Frank, Jr. Florida Atlantic
IF Ford Proctor, Jr. Rice
IF Vinny Pasquantino, So. Old Dominion
OF Kyle Battle, So. Old Dominion
OF Mason Irby, Sr. Southern Miss
OF David Miranda, Sr. Florida Atlantic
OF Matt Wallner, So. Southern Miss
DH/UT Aaron Aucker, Sr. Middle Tennessee
Players Mentioned
IF
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