TLU's Tyler Cauley named SCAC Offensive Player of the Year; eight other Bulldogs receive SCAC honors

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran senior outfielder Tyler Cauley was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, and eight other Bulldogs received SCAC baseball honors.

 

Cauley and Preston Ludwick of Centenary College were selected the league's Offensive Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, in exclusive voting by the conference's head coaches.

 

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In the same balloting, Maxwell Mims of Southwestern University was named the conference's Freshman of the Year, and Centenary head coach Mike Diaz earned SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors.

As for the All-SCAC team, TLU led the way with a league-high five First Team selections while Centenary and Trinity University followed with four and three honorees, respectively. Centenary had the most combined selections (First/Second Team) with seven, followed closely by Texas Lutheran with six and Trinity with five.

 

TLU's five All-SCAC First Team selections were: Cauley as an outfielder, Joe Jimenez (San Antonio/Johnson) at shortstop, Randy Huerta (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) at third base, Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) at designated hitter, and Joe Burch (Geronimo/Navarro) as a pitcher.

 

Austin Colon (La Grange/La Grange) was named to the All-SCAC Second Team as a second baseman, and Brendan Beard (New Waverly/Coldspring-Oakhurst), Caleb Maly (Pearland/Pearland), and Cullen Motsinger (Houston/Cypress Ranch) received All-SCAC Honorable Mention.

Cauley, a senior outfielder from Baytown, Texas, leads the SCAC this season in home runs (12), and he is second in RBI (43).

 

If he were to finish as the league's home run leader, Cauley would become just the second player in league history, and the first since Hunter Owen of Millsaps in 2007-2009, to lead the league in round-trippers three times in a career.

 

Cauley has slugged .661 this season (third in the SCAC) and is also in the top-five in the league in total bases (84, third), walks (28, second) and sacrifice flies (9, first). His 40 career home runs currently place him third on the SCAC all-time chart and his 194 RBI are good for fifth.

 

A 2018 D3baseball.com and ABCA Third Team All-America selection when he led the Bulldogs to a NCAA national runner-up finish, Cauley is the second TLU player to earn Offensive Player of the Year accolades. His former teammate, Riley Schaefer, received the honor following the 2018 season.

In what was an extremely close vote, Cauley received four first-place nods during the balloting process while senior first baseman Preston Ludwick of Centenary College trailed with three appearances atop the coaches' ballots. Senior outfielder Rafe Chaumette of Trinity received the remaining first-place vote.

 

Jimenez, a junior, is hitting .289 this year with six home runs and 42 RBI. He has scored 35 runs and stolen 11 bases. He has started all but one game at shortstop this season for the Bulldogs.

 

Huerta, also a junior, is hitting .304 with eight home runs, 20 RBI, 28 runs scored, and seven stolen bases. After splitting time as an infielder in the early part of the season, Huerta has made third base his home. He closed out the regular season with a nine-game hitting streak and had five homers in a five-game stretch during the hitting streak.

 

Post, a redshirt freshman. has served as the team's DH and as a first baseman. He has belted 10 home runs this season and hit .347. He has 37 RBI with 36 runs scored and two steals. Along with Jimenez, Cauley, Huerta and Motsinger, Post too was an SCAC Hitter of the Week during the regular season.

 

Burch was the stalwart right-hander in the Bulldogs' rotation. He won a career-high six games, going 6-1, in a career-best 53-2/3 innings of work. He struck out 51 and has an ERA of 4.19.

 

Colon, a senior, has played and started in all 37 games this season. He is hitting .310 with a home run, 28 RBI, 41 runs scored, and eight steals. Colon was 2-for-4 with a two-RBI double in Friday night's 7-5 conference tournament win over Southwestern.

 

Beard, the winning pitcher in Friday night's tournament win, is a 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman right-hander. He is 3-1 with two saves in 34-2/3 inning pitched. He has struck out 43 in those 34-2/3 innings, and he has an ERA of 3.12.

 

Maly, the senior starter in left field, is hitting .327 with a home run, 23 RBI, 27 runs scored and nine stole bases. He has walked 26 times, been hit by a pitch five times, and has an on-base percentage of .474.

 

Motsinger, the senior center fielder, is hitting .311 with a home run, 30 RBI, 34 runs scored, and seven steals. Motsinger has walked 27 times and been hit by a pitch nine times. His on-base percentage is .453.

 

2021 SCAC Player-of-the-Year
Tyler Cauley, Texas Lutheran University, Senior, Outfielder, Baytown, Texas

2021 SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year
Preston Ludwick, Centenary College, Senior, Pitcher/First Baseman, Pflugerville, Texas

2021 SCAC Freshman-of-the-Year
Maxwell Mims, Southwestern University, First-Year, Outfielder, Friendswood, Texas

2021 SCAC Coach-of-the-Year
Mike Diaz, Centenary College, 30-9 Overall Record (14-7 SCAC) / No. 24 in the nation

For the complete 2021 SCAC All-Conference baseball team, click here.