College Baseball News – Guilford’s Smith and Wallace Garner All-ODAC Honors

FOREST, Va. — Guilford College senior John Macon Smith (Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford (Western Carolina)) earned First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) baseball recognition Friday. Smith was honored along with classmate Corey Wallace (Rockingham, N.C./Richmond Senior (Southeastern C.C.)), who received Second Team All-ODAC laurels. The all-conference selections were nominated and selected by the league’s baseball coaches based on statistics from conference contests. Smith also won the ODAC/Farm Bureau Insurance Baseball Scholar-Athlete Award, selected by the league’s sports information directors, for the second straight season.

Regular-season champion Shenandoah University claimed three of the league’s major awards. Third baseman Michael Paul was named ODAC Hitter of the Year. Darrell Thompson earned the loop’s Pitcher of the Year prize and Kevin Anderson took home Coach of the Year honors. Randolph-Macon College’s Nicholas Maiolo was named ODAC Rookie of the Year.

John Macon-Smith 2014

Smith, a 6-2, 205-pound infielder, hit .434 with three home runs and 23 RBI in 20 ODAC contests. Overall, he led the Quakers with a .459 batting average, a .531 on-base percentage, 44 runs, 68 hits, and 13 stolen bases in 38 games. Smith also smacked eight doubles, four triples and six homers. He finished second to Wallace on the team with 40 runs batted in (RBI) and a .689 slugging percentage. Smith ranks second among NCAA Division III hits leaders, fifth in total bases, eighth in runs, 12th in RBI and 13th in batting average through games of April 20. He totaled a team-high 23 multiple-hit contests, 10 multiple-RBI games and accumulated a 14-game hitting streak in 2014. He reached base in all 38 games.

In three Guilford seasons, Smith recorded a .417 batting average with 23 home runs and 124 RBI. He set the school’s career record for hits per game (1.63). Smith ranks second in school history in batting average, sixth in runs (125), and sixth in RBI. He is a three-time All-ODAC honoree and two-time all-region selection. In the classroom, Smith carries a 3.83 grade point average. The dean’s list accounting major is a five-time member of Guilford’s Student-Athlete Honor Roll and earned 2013 Capital One Academic All-District 5 honors. He was recognized outstanding achievement by an accounting student at last week’s Guilford Awards Convocation.

Corey Wallace 2014

Wallace, a 6-1, 185-pound third baseman, finished second on the team with a .421 batting average and topped the Quakers with nine homers, six triples, 11 doubles, and 49 RBI. Through games of April 20, Wallace leads NCAA Division III with 117 total bases. He is also ranked nationally in hits (4th), RBI (5th), home runs (6th), and triples (9th). His .736 slugging percentage leads the ODAC and is 16th nationally. Wallace hit .417 in ODAC action this spring and finished as the league leader in conference slugging percentage (.690).

Wallace had 21 multiple-hit games and 11 contests with at least two RBI. He drove in a season-high eight runs against league-foe Virginia Wesleyan College March 1 and smashed two homers, both grand slams, in Guilford’s 15-4 win. His performance yielded the ODAC Baseball Hitter of the Week Award and a spot on the D3baseball.com Team of the Week.

After transferring from Southeastern Community College in the fall of 2012, Wallace finished his Guilford career with a .407 batting average, 80 RBI, 16 home runs, 11 triples, 19 doubles, and a .714 slugging percentage. He received First Team All-South honors last spring from the American Baseball Coaches’ Association and Second Team All-South recognition from D3baseball.com. He was also a 2013 First Team All-ODAC honoree.

Smith and Wallace helped coach Nick Black’s ’02 club to a 19-20 overall record, 9-11 in the ODAC. Black could have as many as 27 returning letter winners next season.