Mercer baseball duo on watch lists
A pair of Mercer seniors were recently added to national baseball award watch lists, placing them among the nation’s top players at their respective positions.
Charlie Madden was added to the Johnny Bench Award Watch List – given annually to the top catcher in NCAA Division I baseball – for the third consecutive season.
Matt Meeder was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, which honors the nation’s top shortstop. It is Meeder’s first national watch list honor.
Madden is one of three Southern Conference catchers and 97 nationally on this year's list. He owns a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage while ranking among national leaders offensively.
Madden, a Perfect Game midseason All-American, is batting a career-best .291 and ranks fifth nationally with 14 home runs.
Meeder is batting .325 in 27 games with 16 RBI, seven doubles and a .426 on-base percentage. He was named to the preseason All-SoCon first team after earning postseason first team and all-tournament honors last year.
He is one of two SoCon players included among 75 total players on the list.
Mercer tennis players honored
Mercer's Oliver Stuart was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in men's tennis, and three teammates earned spots on the all-conference teams.
Katia Stavroulaki and Haley Powell garnered all-conference honors in women's tennis.
Stavroulaki was named to the first team for the second straight year and Powell was voted to the second team at flight five.
Sam Philp was named to the men's first team, while Nicolas Guillon was named to the second team at flight one and Stuart at flight three.
Philp and Stuart were named to the second team in doubles and Stuart wrapped up the honors with a spot on the all-freshman team.
Mercer's men earned the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament and will face No. 6 Samford at 1 p.m. on Friday in Greenville, South Carolina.
The women are also a third seed, and take on No. 6 UNCG at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Peach Belt tournament at Georgia College
For the third straight year, Georgia will host Peach Belt Conference softball tournament at the Peeler Complex softball field.
The Bobcats are seeded fifth and face fourth-seed Young Harris (41-11) at 4 p.m. on Friday. It will be the third of four games Friday.
Second-seeded Armstrong State and seventh-seeded Montevallo start the single-elimination tournament at 11 a.m. followed by No. 6 Flagler and No. 3 Columbus State.
Top seed North Georgia and eighth seed Francis Marion play at 6:30 p.m.
The 24th annual tournament determines the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional, which starts on May 12.
The Bobcats are 30-18, including a sweep of then-No. 2 North Georgia earlier this season. The Bobcats are 15-7 at home, and 7-7 against the seven other teams in this year’s tournament.
Senior Faith Flanders of West Laurens leads Georgia College with a .389 average, five home runs, 48 RBI and 19 runs scored.
GMC to host tournament
GMC is the host for the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association softball tournament April 27-29.
The Bulldogs have won the past two tournaments. They are 40-14 overall and 17-9 in conference play.
Joining GMC is Georgia Highlands, ABAC, East Georgia State, South Georgia State and Gordon State.
Georgia College stays put
The NCAA released its second round of Division II men’s golf region rankings last Friday, with Georgia College coming in ninth. It didn't include the Bobcats’ fourth-place finish at the recent Peach Belt Conference championship on Sunday.
The surging Bobcats have the ninth slot, fifth among Peach Belt Conference schools. Lander takes the top slot with USC Aiken in fifth and Young Harris in sixth. Flagler College comes one spot before the Bobcats.
This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Mercer baseball duo on watch lists."