The South Atlantic Conference Announces Baseball Elite 18 Honoree
ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Paul Kirby from Carson-Newman was named the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Elite 18 honoree, the League announced today. This is a new award for the SAC and honors the student-athlete with the top cumulative grade-point average based on a minimum of 48 credit hours who is competing at the final site of each of the Conference's 18 team championship sports
Kirby, a senior from Goodlettsville, Tenn., carries a 4.0 GPA as a biology major.
The senior won the SAC and Tennessee Sportswriters' Association's Player of the Week laurels on April 18 going 6-for-15, a .400 batting average, at the plate with three home runs, 12 RBIs while scoring six times in four games. He is hitting .357 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs. On the season, Kirby is 48th nationally and sixth in the league in doubles with 16, fourth in slugging percentage at .664, ninth in total bases with 93 and triples with three while ranking 10th with eight roundtrippers.
From Feb. 8 to March 17, the first baseman hit safely in a career-long 16 straight games where he hit .410 with three bombs, 15 RBIs, 20 runs scored with seven doubles and a triple. It marks the longest hitting streak by any Eagle player in 2017.