| BOCA RATON, Fla. – With a little more than a week remaining before the 2021 season gets underway, Conference USA released its preseason team rankings and All-Conference Team on Thursday. The league coaches voted Florida Atlantic University first in the C-USA East Division, with two Owls chosen as preseason All-C-USA. The Owls received 10 of a possible 12 first-place votes in the East to outdistance runner-up Old Dominion (who garnered one of the other two FPV) and third-place FIU (who received the other). The league has moved to two divisions and more geographically friendly conference play for this season. In the West, Southern Miss was voted first, also receiving 10 first-place votes, ahead of Louisiana Tech (the other two FPV) and Rice. On the 15-member preseason All-Conference Team, repeating for the second straight season is senior rightfielder Bobby Morgensen, and joining him, in a tie for the DH/utility slot, is sophomore Mitchell Hartigan, who doubles as the Owls’ starting leftfielder as well as filling the role as the team’s closer.  Morgensen returns for his third year after his 2020 senior season was cut short due to COVID-19. In 70 games at FAU, he is a .303 hitter, with 14 home runs and 58 RBI. Hartigan too is a third-year member of the program, with a .319 average, seven home runs and 42 RBI. He also notched two saves in three scoreless appearances on the mound in 2020. Of active Owls returning for ’21, Hartigan is the top hitter by lifetime average and with 19 doubles, and Morgensen leads in most of the other offensive categories (homers, RBI, hits with 80, runs with 49 and slugging percentage, .519).  “Rankings are fun, great water cooler talk, but you still have to perform on the field,” said head coach John McCormack. “It certainly is a nice preseason accolade for the program and the players. Bobby and Mitch have worked hard and played well over the last few years and their recognition is well-deserved.” Here is the preseason C-USA accolades in full: PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH (first place votes in parentheses) EAST 1. Florida Atlantic (10) 2. Old Dominion (1) 3. FIU (1) 4. WKU 5. Charlotte 6. Marshall WEST 1. Southern Miss (10) 2. Louisiana Tech (2) 3. Rice 4. Middle Tennessee 5. UTSA 6. UAB PLAYER OF THE YEAR Parker Bates, Louisiana Tech (Senior OF) PITCHER OF THE YEAR Walker Powell, Southern Miss (Senior RHP) ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM SP – Gabe Shepard, So., Southern Miss SP – Hunter Gregory, Jr., Old Dominion SP – Walker Powell, Sr., Southern Miss RP – Hunter Stanley, Sr., Southern Miss C – J Paul Fullerton, Sr., UAB IF – Derek Cartaya, r-Sr., FIU IF – Brett Coker, So., Middle Tennessee IF – Braden Comeaux, Sr., Rice IF – Hunter Wells, Sr., Louisiana Tech IF – Taylor Young, Sr., Louisiana Tech OF – Parker Bates, Sr., Louisiana Tech OF – Bobby Morgensen, Sr., Florida Atlantic OF – Gabe Montenegro, Jr., Southern Miss DH/UT – Mitchell Hartigan, So., Florida Atlantic DH/UT – Davis Sims, Sr., WKU FAU is on the road for Opening Night, next Friday, Feb. 19, traveling to Orlando to take on UCF. The Owls and Knights will then come to Boca Raton to finish off the final two games of the three-game set, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at FAU Baseball Stadium. |
