CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Three-time defending regular-season champion Campbell University has been voted the Big South Conference’s preseason 2022 baseball favorite by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the Conference office. In addition, the coaches voted Campbell infielder Zach Neto(Miami, Fla.) the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year and Camels’ hurler Thomas Harrington (Sanford, N.C.) the league’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
The Camels, last year’s Tournament Runner-up, are the preseason favorite for the fourth consecutive year. Campbell was the conference regular-season champion in 2021 with a 28-9 record, earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals last May, and advanced to the Regional Final for the second-straight postseason. Campbell received eight first-place votes and 116 total points to win the league title in 2022.
USC Upstate received one first-place vote and was second in the preseason poll with 100 points, while Radfordfinished in the third spot with 86 points. Defending Big South Champion Presbyterian College was fourth with 84 points, just ahead of fifth-place Gardner-Webb’s 82 points. Winthrop collected a first-place vote and was sixth in the voting with 72 points, while Charleston Southern received the remaining first-place nod and finished seventh with 51 points. High Point followed in the eighth spot with 41 points, with UNC Asheville in the ninth position (38 points). New Big South member North Carolina A&T finished 10th (31 points), with Longwood (11th, 25 points) rounding out the predicted order of finish.
Neto was the 2021 Big South Player of the Year and earned five All-America honors across three outlets (NCBWA 2nd Team/Freshman 2nd Team; Collegiate Baseball News 3rd Team/Freshman; Baseball America 3rd Team Freshman). Neto was the Big South’s leading hitter with a .405 batting average — the lone player above .400, along with 12 home runs, 58 RBI, 50 runs scored, 17 doubles, three triples, 12 stolen bases, a .746 slugging clip and .488 on-base average. He made starts at every infield position, as well as on the mound and at designated hitter, and had a 20-game hit streak from April 2-May 7. Neto had the highest batting average in the country by any player that also pitched last season, as he went 4-0 on the hill with a 3.43 ERA in 11 appearances. He was named to the Starkville Regional All-Tournament team after batting .312 with two homers, three RBI and six runs in the postseason. Neto was a four-time Big South weekly award winner (three freshman, one player), and ranked first in the conference in slugging and OBP, and third in RBI. In 30 Big South games, Neto batted .442 with nine homers, 45 RBI, a .775 slugging percentage and .514 on-base percentage. He received nine first-place votes and 31 points in the preseason voting.
Harrington was the 2021 Big South Freshman of the Year as well as a Second-Team All-Big South selection. Named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America, Harrington went 6-3 with a 3.45 ERA last season (5th best in Big South), with a .226 batting average against (3rd best). He owned the lowest ERA in the Big South among freshman starters and tied for fourth in the Big South with 75 strikeouts — 27 looking (38 percent). Harrington tossed a complete game 1-hitter at USC Upstate on May 15 with eight strikeouts and no walks. He also struck out 11 UNC Asheville batters and 10 Winthrop hitters during the season. Harrington was honored as the Big South Freshman of the Week on May 3 and Starting Pitcher of the Week on May 17, and posted a 5-1 record with 57 strikeouts in his 11 Big South starts. He pitched 5.0 innings of relief with just one run allowed against Mississippi State in the Starkville Regional final. Harrington received seven first-place votes and 26 points in the voting, ahead of USC Upstate’s Kevin Davis (three first-place votes and 14 points).
The 2022 baseball season begins Friday, Feb. 18, and the first Big South conference weekend is March 18-20. The top six teams in the final conference standings will advance to the Ingles Big South Baseball Championship, which will be held May 25-28 at Truist Point in High Point, N.C. The champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2022 BIG SOUTH BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL
Rk Team (first-place votes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Points
1. Campbell (8) 8 2 – 1 – – – – – – – 116
2. USC Upstate (1) 1 3 5 1 – 1 – – – – – 100
3. Radford – 2 2 4 1 – 1 1 – – – 86
4. Presbyterian College – 2 2 1 4 – 2 – – – – 84
5. Gardner-Webb – 1 1 2 5 2 – – – – – 82
6. Winthrop (1) 1 1 1 1 – 3 3 – – – 1 72
7. Charleston Southern (1) 1 – – – – 2 1 3 3 1 – 51
8. High Point – – – – 1 2 – 1 5 1 1 41
9. UNC Asheville – – – – – 1 1 4 2 2 1 38
10. North Carolina A&T – – – – – – 3 1 1 3 3 31
11. Longwood – – – 1 – – – 1 – 4 5 25
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 11 points, followed by 10 points for second-place, and so on.
