College Baseball News – Guilford’ John Macon Smith Named Third Team All-American

APPLE. — Guilford College senior John Macon Smith (Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford (Western Carolina)) earned Third Team All-America recognition from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Friday. Smith is Guilford’s first ABCA All-American since 2009 and joins Joe Dooley ’02 and Kyle Wooden ’11 as the only Quakers so honored in the program’s NCAA Division III history. Smith is Guilford’s fifth baseball All-American.

John Macon-Smith 2014

John Macon-Smith 2014 by Greensboro Sports

John Macon Smith (Greensboro, N.C./Western Guilford (Western Carolina))

Smith, a 6-2, 205-pound first baseman, earned All-South honors from the ABCA and from D3baseball.com earlier this week. The two-time First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) selection 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 the team with 40 runs batted in (RBI) and a .689 slugging percentage. Smith ranks seventh among NCAA Division III batting average leaders, ninth in on-base percentage, 28th in slugging percentage, 33rd in runs per game, and 36th in hits. 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 was named to five all-region teams, three All-ODAC squads and twice received the league’s Baseball Scholar-Athlete Award in his illustrious career.

Smith 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.