Shelton named TCCAA Baseball Coach of the Year; 11 make All-Conference teams

MORRISTOWN, TN – Dave Shelton was named the TCCAA Baseball Coach of the Year for the fifth time on Friday, while 11 Senators were named to the All-Conference teams.

Making All-TCCAA first team for Walters State were Corbin Shaw, Cooper Torres, Deniel Ortiz, Kurtis Reid, Cole McCallum and Jarret Martin. Making All-TCCAA second team were Caleb Marmo, Kruise Newman, Landon Crumbley, Brayden Matthews and Karson Bonaparte. 

Shelton earned the honor after leading the Senators to a 48-8 record and to the TCCAA regular season title. The Senators were ranked No. 1 in the country for multiple weeks and were a perfect 29-0 at home. Walters State is second in the country in home runs and RBIs. 

On the first team all-conference were Shaw, Torres, Ortiz, Reid, McCallum and Martin. Shaw manned first base this season for Walters State and hit .373 with 11 homers and 70 RBIs. He led the conference in RBIs.

At second base was Torres. He hit .363 on the year for the Senators, mashing 11 homers and driving in 32 RBIs. His OBP was .506 and he stole 16 bases. His counterpart at shortstop was Reid and he made first team all-conference after hitting .336 with 11 homers and 51 RBIs.

Rounding out the infield was Ortiz at third base. Just a freshman, Ortiz was unstoppable at the hot corner for the Senators both offensively and defensively. At the plate, Ortiz hit .431 with 16 homers and 54 RBIs. He had an on base percentage of .579 and collected 122 total bases. He was second in the conference in batting average and second in home runs. 

Rounding out the first team were McCallum at DH and Martin at catcher. Hitting in the 3-hole all season, McCallum batted .359 with 11 homers and 52 RBIs. Meanwhile, Martin hit 13 home runs and drove in 50 runs in just 101 at-bats. He hit .386 on the season. 

On the second team were Marmo, Newman, Crumbley, Matthews and Bonaparte. The Senators leadoff hitter and starting center fielder, Marmo hit .366 with seven homers and 30 RBIs. Marmo stole 24 bases and had a .502 OBP. 

Next to him in right field was Newman. Newman hit .358 on the season and hit 11 home runs. Newman drove in 56 runs. 

On the mound, Crumbley and Matthews both made the team as starting pitchers. Crumbley was 8-1 on the season in 56.1 innings pitched.He struck out 50 and had a 4.95 ERA. Meanwhile, Matthews was just as good with a 6-1 record. He also had two saves. Matthews struck out 59 and had a 3.24 ERA.

Lastly was Bonaparte as a relief pitcher. Bonaparte finished the regular season with a perfect 5-0 record and collected two saves. Bonaparte had a 2.00 ERA and struck out 38 batters in 27 innings. 

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics