NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Baseball sophomore standouts Carson Roccaforte and Julian Brock each earned postseason honors as the Sun Belt Conference released its 2022 All-Conference team on Tuesday.
Roccaforte and Brock were each named to the first team in voting by the league’s head coaches with Roccaforte being selected at first base and Brock at catcher.
Roccaforte, who joined Phillip Hawke (2004-05) and Oswaldo Aguirre (1997) as Ragin’ Cajuns to earn All-SBC honors at first base, finished as the second-leading hitter in the Sun Belt Conference after averaging .392 during the regular season and .420 in Sun Belt Conference play.
The Port Neches, Texas native finished second in the SBC in both RBI (66) and stolen bases (23), was tied for second in home runs (16), third in slugging percentage (.727) and tied for third in hits (76). He led Louisiana with 23 multiple-hit games during the regular season with seven games of three hits or greater.
Roccaforte had a season-high, 14-game hitting streak where he hit .433 at the plate with nine home runs and 23 RBI. He collected at least one hit in 26 of Louisiana's 30 SBC games and ended SBC play with a 15-game hitting streak.
He reached base safely in the final 32 games of the regular season and was perfect from the field in SBC play in 161 chances.
Brock, the second Ragin’ Cajuns player to earn first-team honors behind the plate in as many seasons after Drake Osborn was tabbed in 2021, emerged as one of the top catchers in the Sun Belt Conference after hitting .306 during the regular season and .324 in SBC play. He became the eighth Ragin' Cajuns catcher to earn All-SBC honors joining Osborn, Jonathan Lucroy, Paul Bako, Mike Strentz, Chad Keefer, Ryan Core and Danny Massiatte.
The sophomore threw out 23 of a potential 52 runners (.442%) in stolen bases on the season and 10 of 23 (.435%) in SBC play. Brock posted a .996 fielding percentage in SBC action and started 47 consecutive games behind the plate until senior reserve catcher Austin Garrett earned the start in the regular-season finale
Brock finished tied for second on the team in doubles (12) and third overall in home runs (6). The Fulshear, Texas native posted 17 multi-hit games on the season and was tied for second overall with eight multi-RBI contests.
He recorded a season-high, seven-game hitting streak late in the season where he hit .500 (13-for-26) in games against UTA, Rice and Texas State with a home run and five RBI.
Louisiana (33-21), the No. 4 seed in the 2022 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Baseball Championship in Montgomery, Ala., will face fifth-seeded South Alabama (31-22) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Riverwalk Stadium.
2022 ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE BASEBALL TEAM
Player of the Year
Dalton Shuffield, Texas State (Sr., SS – San Antonio, Texas)
Pitcher of the Year
Reid VanScoter, Coastal Carolina (RS Sr., P – Livonia, N.Y.)
Newcomer of the Year
Max Ryerson, Georgia State (Jr., OF – Conway, S.C.)
Freshman of the Year
Austin St. Laurent, App State (RS Fr., UT – Elon, N.C.)
Ron Maestri Coach of the Year
Steven Trout, Texas State
First Team
P – Reid VanScoter, Coastal Carolina (RS Sr., P – Livonia, N.Y.)
P – Levi Wells, Texas State (So., P – La Porte, Texas)
P – Zeke Wood, Texas State (Jr., P – Paris, Texas)
RP – Tristan Stivors, Texas State (Sr., RP – Castroville, Texas)
C – Julian Brock, Louisiana (So., C – Fulshear, Texas)
1B – Carson Roccaforte, Louisiana (So., 1B – Port Neches, Texas)
2B – Jesse Sherrill, Georgia Southern (Jr., 2B – Pensacola, Fla.)
SS – Dalton Shuffield, Texas State (Sr., SS – San Antonio, Texas)
3B – Justin Thompson, Texas State (Sr., 3B – Frisco, Texas)
OF – Max Ryerson, Georgia State (Jr., OF – Conway, S.C.)
OF – Mason Holt, ULM (Sr., OF – Coppell, Texas)
OF – Miles Simington, South Alabama (Sr., OF – Bourbonnais, Ill.)
UT – Cameron Jones, Georgia State (So., UT – Kathleen, Ga.)
DH – Noah Ledford, Georgia Southern (RS Jr., DH – Buford, Ga.)
Second Team
P – Hayden Arnold, Little Rock (5th, P – Rison, Ark.)
P – Michael Knorr, Coastal Carolina (Sr., P – Carlsbad, Calif.)
P – Matt Boswell, South Alabama (Sr., P – Destin, Fla.)
RP – Jay Thompson, Georgia Southern (Jr., RP – Cumming, Ga.)
C – Hayden Cross, App State (Jr., C – Sanford, N.C.)
1B – Jason Swan, Georgia Southern (5th, 1B – Jacksonville, Fla.)
2B – Erick Orbeta, South Alabama (RS So., 2B – Miami, Fla.)
SS – Griffin Cheney, Georgia State (Gr., SS – Johns Creek, Ga.)
3B – Dale Thomas, Coastal Carolina (Jr., 3B – De Leon Springs, Fla.)
OF – Noah Dickerson, Little Rock (RS Jr., OF – Windermere, Fla.)
OF – Jose Gonzalez, Texas State (Jr., OF – Spring, Texas)
OF – John Wuthrich, Texas State (Sr., OF – Midland, Texas)
UT – Rigsby Mosley, Troy (Sr., UT – Maitland, Fla.)
DH – Tyler Johnson, Coastal Carolina (Sr., DH – Bentonville, Ark.)
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