The South Atlantic Conference and AstroTurf Present Senior Spotlights Featuring Coker Baseball, Lacrosse and Men's Tennis

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – In light of the recent events of the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled the remainder of the 2020 South Atlantic Conference spring sports seasons, the SAC along with its corporate partner AstroTurf, will be presenting the SAC AstroTurf Senior Spotlights. These highlights will showcase the spring sports teams at each of our 12 institutions and will give fans a brief overview of the team's shortened season, while highlighting the 2020 senior student-athletes on each team.

We continue our AstroTurf Senior Spotlights with the Coker University Cobras and the baseball, men's and women's lacrosse, and men's tennis teams.

BASEBALL

The Cobras baseball team ended the 2020 season with an overall record of 8-15, including two SAC victories over Wingate and Anderson. In their two conference victories, the Cobras scored a combined 18 runs on their way to victory.

The Cobras were led by 10 seniors: Casey Demko, Lake Lybrand, Drake Knight, Austin Morris, Austin Anderson, Mike DeLeo, Ethan Westbury, Derek Balbierz, Griffin Hollifield, and Grant Thompson. 

Demko finished his senior season with a .290 average and 13 runs batted in. He was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll and received the 2018-19 D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.

Lybrand picked up two hits and drew four walks in his senior season. Over his four-year career, he totaled 49 runs batted in on 91 hits. 

Knight recorded 10 strikeouts in eight innings pitched. He was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll and received the 2018-19 D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.

Morris had 12 RBI's with a .348 batting average this season.

Anderson appeared in eight games during his time at Coker.

DeLeo recorded 54 strikeouts as a Cobra, with his best outing of the season coming in the win over Wingate, striking out seven over the course of seven innings. 

Westbury appeared in 10 games and was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll.

Balbierz spent two years as a member of the Coker baseball program.  

Hollifield recorded 92 strikeouts, with 18 of them coming this season. For his career, he has 11 wins and 10 saves out of the bullpen.

Thompson led the Cobras with 32 hits this season finishing the year with 10 multi-hit games. For his career, he finishes with 87 hits with a .340 batting average.

2020 Cobra Baseball Seniors

WOMEN'S LACROSSE
The Coker University women's lacrosse team ended the 2020 season with an overall record of 2-3 and 0-1 in conference play under first-year head coach Marabeth Durden.

The Cobras were led by three seniors in Hannah Baird, Skylar Stowers, and Kaite Driskell.

This season Baird started all five games finishing the season with two assists, six ground balls, one draw control, and five caused turnovers. She played in 32 games making 27 starts, while totaling two assists, 32 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers.  As a junior, Baird was named to the All-SAC Honorable Mention Team. Academically, she was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll as well as the IWLCA Division II Academic Honor Roll. In addition, she received the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award in 2018-19.

Stowers started in two games due to injury this season, while recording three ground balls and four caused turnovers. During her four years she played in 42 games making 41 starts, while totaling two goals, one assist, 41 ground balls, eight draw controls and 22 caused turnovers.

Driskell did not play this season due to injury. During her three years of play she played in 42 games while making 38 starts. She recorded 42 goals, 11 assists, 83 ground balls, and caused 44 turnovers.

2020 Cobra Women's Lacrosse Seniors

MEN'S LACROSSE
Coker Men's Lacrosse played to a 6-2 mark this season, with both tough losses coming to nationally-ranked programs. Coker was led by five seniors in Emmanuel Adjaye, Evan Bachman, Nick Maddox, Austin McCutchen and Denton Wilks.

Adjaye played in eight games this season. He dished out two assists for two points, while picking up 20 ground balls and causing nine turnovers. He has played in 22 games in his Coker career, making 18 starts. He has totaled two assists for two career points. He has also collected 36 ground balls and caused 21 turnovers in his career.

Bachman appeared in five games this season. He picked up four ground balls and registered one caused turnover. Bachman played in 40 games during his Coker career, making 18 starts. He has totaled 37 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers in his time in the Navy and Gold. For his work in the classroom, Bachman was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, and also received the 2018-19 D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.

Maddox started all eight games this season, scoring six goals and dishing out 11 assists for 17 points. He also totaled 14 ground balls and one caused turnover on the season. Maddox has played in 34 games, making 32 starts in his career at Coker. He has scored 17 goals and tallied 26 assists for 43 points. He also totaled 27 ground balls and one caused turnover.

McCutchen played in five games this season, picking up one ground ball and causing two turnovers. McCutchen appeared in 20 games in his career, totaling six ground balls and four caused turnovers. In the classroom, he was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll.

Wilks appeared in two games this season. He played in 34 games during his Coker career, making 26 starts. Wilks totaled 34 goals and 10 assists for 44 points, while also posting 26 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers.

2020 Cobra Men's Lacrosse Seniors

MEN'S TENNIS
Coker went 6-1 overall and 1-1 in the SAC play in 2020, and was led by three seniors in Hunter Horton, Walker Long and Fabrizio Tucci.

Horton posted six doubles wins on the season with Isaac MacMillan, while also picking up four singles wins on the season. Horton totaled 35 singles wins in his career, placing him sixth all-time on the career singles wins list at Coker. Horton is also fifth on the all-time doubles wins list with 35 in his career. Horton also is tied for seventh all-time in single-season doubles wins, partnering with Justus Lehmann for 13 wins in 2018. Horton was named to the All-SAC Honorable Mention team for singles play in 2017-18. In the classroom, he was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll and also received the 2018-19 D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.

Long won three doubles matches with three different partners, while also posting one singles win on the season. Long won eight doubles matches in his career, while also posting nine singles wins. For his work in the classroom, he was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll.

Tucci picked up a doubles win this season with Walker Long, for his first career win. For his work in the classroom, he was named to the 2018-19 SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, and also received the 2018-19 D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.

2020 Cobra Men's Tennis Seniors

AstroTurf is an official corporate partner of the South Atlantic Conference and title sponsor of the Conference's Player of the Week awards program.

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