Five Railsplitters Earn All-Conference Honors

HARROGATE, TN – For a squad that didn’t make it to the conference tournament, the Railsplitter baseball team flexed a lot of muscle on the All-Gulf South Conference Baseball Teams that were released recently.

Making the All-GSC First Team were Dustin Rowland (Eagle River, AK), Hunter Pelt (Coppell, TX), Mike Richardson (Murfreesboro, TN) and Joe Workman (Dayton, KY).  Named to the All-GSC Second Team was LMU newcomer Zach Gray (Columbia, TN).

Rowland, a 6’2 junior catcher, led the Railsplitters in hitting percentage this season with a .410 batting average, while recording 73 hits, 11 doubles, two homeruns and a team-best 36 RBI. 

Pelt, a second year starter in his senior year with Lincoln Memorial, finished third on the team in hitting percentage with a .312 batting average, including 53 hits, five doubles, five homeruns and 35 runs batted in.

Richardson, in his first year with Lincoln Memorial, hit .344 while starting in 51 games at the shortstop position.  The junior recorded 64 hits, a team-best 14 doubles, 3 triples and 3 homeruns from his lead-off hitting position.

Junior hurler Joe Workman, the only third-year player of the group, led the Railsplitters in wins this season by going 9-5 with a 3.28 ERA.  Workman had 17 appearances with 16 starts and 8 complete games, while pitching a team-high 98.2 innings of work and giving up 91 hits, 50 runs and 36 earned runs, while walking 38 batters and striking out 71.

Junior Zach Gray, the only Railsplitter to earn All-GSC Second Team honors, had the best ERA on the squad with a 2.80, while finishing the year with a 7-6 record.  Gray appeared in 13 games this season, staring in all of them.  He pitched 7 complete games, for a total of 80.1 innings this year, which included 79 hits, 45 runs and 25 earned runs, while walking 23 batters and striking out 55.

The 2006 Railsplitters finished the year with a 28-25 overall record, 12 more wins then in the 2005 season.  In addition, LMU notched wins over several nationally ranked opponents including, USC-Aiken, Lander University, Florida Southern, Carson-Newman and West Alabama.