NCCSIA Announces 2015 North Carolina University Division All-State Baseball Team

The North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) announced its selections for the 2015 University Division All-State Baseball Teams on Wednesday. Twenty-six players representing nine different North Carolina Universities were named to the 2015 NCCSIA University Division All-State Teams.

Colonial Athletic Association Champion UNC Wilmington led the way with four selection on the first team and six selections overall. High Point had three players selected to the first team while Campbell and Western Carolina had two selections each.

Campbell’s Heath Bowers and Appalachian State’s Taylor Thurber were selected as the first-team starting pitchers for 2015. Bowers earned first-team honors for the third-straight season after finishing the season with an 8-5 record and a 3.19 ERA in 15 starts. The second-team All-Big South selection pitched 98 innings and struck out 90 while walking just 22. Thurber was named first-team All-Sun Belt and received his first All-State recognition following a season in which he posted a 2.35 ERA in 95-2/3 innings of work. He started 11 games for ASU and went 4-9 with one save.

Jordan Ramsey from UNC Wilmington and High Point’s Joe Goodman were named as the first-team relief pitchers. Ramsey appeared in 27 games out of the Bullpen for the Seahawks and went 8-2 with seven saves and a 1.60 ERA. The first-team All-CAA selection struck out 60 batters in 45 innings of work. Goodman returns to the All-State team for first time since 2013 after missing last season due to injury. The redshirt-junior appeared in 20 games and notched six saves for the Panthers while striking out 31 in 19-1/3 innings.

Redshirt-sophomore Gavin Stupienski is the second UNC Wilimington player to earn an All-State nod after being named as the first-team catcher. The second-team All-CAA selection started 44 games and hit .337 with 12 doubles and six home runs. He also notched 34 RBI and 31 runs scored.

Two players from UNC Wilmington comprise half of the first-team infield as the Seahawks’ Terence Connelly and Corey Dick were both selected along with Western Carolina’s Bradley Strong and High Point’s Spencer Angelis.

Connelly was named second-team All-CAA after a season in which he led UNC Wilmington with a .354 batting average and a .491 on-base percentage. The junior scored 47 runs while driving in 25. Dick was named the CAA Tournament MVP after helping lead Wilmington to the CAA Championship. The senior hit .325 for the season with 39 RBI and 30 runs scored and tied for the team lead with six home runs.

Strong and Angelis are both on the first-team for the second-straight season. Strong was a unanimous first-team All-Southern Conference selection after a season in which he hit .344 with 56 runs scored and 58 RBI. He had 31 extra-base hits, including 10 home runs and stole 20 bases. Angelis was named second-team All-Big South in 2015, his third All-Conference nod. The HPU first baseman hit .335 with 13 doubles, 28 runs scored and 23 RBI in 49 games for the Panthers.

High Point’s Josh Greene, Campbell’s Cole Hallum and Elon’s Ryan Cooper comprise the first-team outfield. Greene was a first-team All-Big South selection after leading High Point with a .355 average, 37 RBI, seven home runs and 13 stolen bases. Hallum was named a third-team Louisville Slugger All-American and the Big South Player of the Year in his first year with the Camels. The outfielder hit .327 with 12 home runs and 48 RBI. He also was a key part of the Camel bullpen, appearing in 20 games and accumulating nine saves with a 1.04 ERA. Cooper was named first-team All-CAA for the Phoenix. He hit .373 with 45 runs scored and 42 RBI and led the CAA with a .414 batting average in conference play.

Western Carolina’s Matt Smith was selected as the final member of the first-team in the designated hitter position. Smith was a second-team All-Southern Conference selection and ranked second on the Catamounts with a .332 batting average to go along with 34 RBI and 32 runs scored.

The NCCSIA All-State second-team is comprised of UNC Asheville’s Nick Schavone, Hunter Bryant and Tommy Houmard, Appalachian State’s Dillon Dobson and Michael Pierson, Charlotte’s Sean Geoghegan and Brad Elwood, UNC Wilmington’s Zach Shields and Luke Dunlap, Elon’s Casey Jones, High Point’s Conor Lourey, NC Central’s Andrew Vernon and Western Carolina’s Danny Bermudez.

Nominees were submitted by North Carolina sports information professionals and voted on by the NCCSIA members.

Founded in 2002, The North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) is comprised of sports information professionals from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and independent institutions from the state of North Carolina. The purpose of the organization is to promote collegiate athletics at all schools. Membership is open to anyone affiliated with a college, university or conference located in North Carolina, and whose area of responsibility lies within sports information.

NCCSSIA selects all-state teams in the University (Division I) and College (Division II, III, NAIA) divisions for men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball.

North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association
2015 University Division All-State Baseball Teams

First Team

Pos.  Name                    Class  School                        Hometown
SP    Heath Bowers & %        Sr.    Campbell University           Lillington, N.C.
SP    Taylor Thurber          Sr.    Appalachian State University  Mooresville, N.C.
RP    Joe Goodman %           R-Jr.  High Point University         Ames, Iowa
RP    Jordan Ramsey           Sr.    UNC Wilmington                Lexington, N.C.
C     Gavin Stupienski        R-So.  UNC Wilmington                Columbus, N.J.
IF    Corey Dick              Sr.    UNC Wilmington                Albemarle, N.C. 
IF    Bradley Strong &        Sr.    Western Carolina University   Richlands, Va. 
IF    Spencer Angelis &       Sr.    High Point University         Orlando, Fla.
IF    Terence Connelly        Jr.    UNC Wilmington                Gardner City, N.Y.
OF    Josh Greene &           So.    High Point University         Ocala, Fla. 
OF    Cole Hallum             Jr.    Campbell University           Bakersfield, Calif. 
OF    Ryan Cooper             Sr.    Elon University               Owensville, Mo. 
DH    Matt Smith              So.    Western Carolina University   Fredericktown, Ohio

Second Team

& – Named to 2014 All-State Team
% – Named to 2013 All-State Team