DALLAS – The Coastal Carolina baseball team continues to bring in postseason national honors, as sophomore designated hitter
Derek Bender and junior pitcher
Teddy Sharkey were both named to the 2023 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's All-America second team, the NCBWA announced on Wednesday.
The honor marks the first All-America recognition for Bender, who like Sharkey picked up ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic All-Region accolades on Tuesday. The recognition is the second All-America nod for Sharkey, who was named to the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I All-American second team, powered by Diamond Sports, on June 1.
Derek Bender
CCU's new single-season leader in RBIs with a program-record 83 this season, Bender was an ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic All-Region first-team selection and a first-team All-Sun Belt honoree for his stellar sophomore season.
In 62 games this season, Bender hit .341 with a total of 86 base hits on the season. He led the team with 83 RBIs, 19 home runs, 160 total bases, and a .635 slugging percentage. He was second on the team in hits and triples (2), fifth in runs scored (61), and sixth in doubles (13).
His 83 RBIs led the Sun Belt Conference, while his 86 hits ranked fourth, his 19 home runs were fifth, and his slugging percentage was 10th overall in the conference.
Bender was tied with a team-high 29 multi-hit games on the season and led the team with 21 multi-RBI games, including five games with five RBIs on the year. He also had a team-high 13-game hitting streak on the season.
He reached base safely in 56 of the 62 games in which he played and scored a run in 43 of the 62 games he saw action in while also blasting two home runs in the same game three times on the year – versus No. 2 Wake Forest (March 7), Georgia Southern (April 7), and Southern Miss (April 21).
He was just as good in league play as he ranked in the top 10 in RBIs (43), home runs (11), hits (45), runs (36), and slugging percentage (.677) in 30 SBC contests.
Teddy Sharkey
Tabbed a finalist for the 2023 NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, Sharkey was named to the 2023 Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I All-American second team, powered by Diamond Sports, the ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic All-Region second team, the All-Sun Belt first team as the relief pitcher, and also earned a spot on the 2023 Sun Belt Baseball Championship All-Tournament team.
Tabbed a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week on April 17, Sharkey is the only pitcher to rank in the top 10 in the Sun Belt Conference in both wins (7) and saves (11) this season.
Going 7-2 with 11 saves on the season, Sharkey posted a 2.90 ERA over 27 appearances out of the bullpen for the Chants. He struck out 74 hitters over just 49.2 innings pitched and posted an average of 13.41 strikeouts per nine innings on the year.
Sharkey allowed just 16 earned runs and held opponents to a .215 batting average on the season.
In SBC play, Sharkey was 5-1 with two saves in 12 appearances and struck out 41 batters compared to just 10 walks over 26.0 innings.
At the 2023 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Baseball Championship Tournament, Sharkey pitched in three of the Chants' four games on the week. He recorded two saves and allowed just one run on one hit while striking out seven hitters over a combined 4.1 innings pitched.
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