FRISCO, Texas — McNeese outfielder Payton Hardenthe Southland Conference Player of the Year, was named the 2022 SLC Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Wednesday along with the all-academic teams.
Harden is from Atascocita, Texas and has a 3.82 GPA in Mass Communications Public Relations. He is only the fifth Cowboy to receive the league’s top honor and the first since 1994 (Deron Hofstetter). The 2022 All-Conference first-team selection and member of the ABCA All-South Region Team led the Southland in hitting (.378), total hits (85), triples (4), and stolen bases (26). His 85 base hits was the second-highest in a single season in school history, while his 252 career hits are two shy of matching the school’s all-time mark of 254.
He was one of four all-academic First Team members for the Cowboys who became champions in the regular season. short stop Reid Bouque Harden entered the first team after posting a 4.00 GPA in H&HP/Sports and Wellness Management. Cameron Fosterthe league’s Relief Pitcher of the Year, also earned first-team honors as an outfielder with a 4.00 mark in Behavioral Sciences Julian Gonzales, a 2022 CoSIDA Academic All-American, rounded out the Cowboys’ first team selection after earning a 4.00 GPA in biology/premed. This is the second time Gonzales has received all academic honors in his career.
jug chance stone earned a second-team nod after recording a 3.66 GPA in H&HP/prephysical therapy.
Foster, who was named a third-team All-American by the NCBWA earlier this month, led the 2022 Southland in six categories, including saves (12), ERA (1.86), strikeouts (84), batting average against (.164 ) , Hits Allowed (35) and Runs Allowed (17). He placed second in the conference for allowed walks (20).
Gonzales started in all 57 games for the Cowboys and hit .280 with nine homers with 44 RBI, making him team leader of the season, while Bourque, who became McNeese’s all-time stolen bases and games that season, hit .276 for the year with four homers, 25 RBI and 24 stolen bases, second on the roster.
Stone finished third on the team with 50.1 innings and had a 3-3 record with a 5.01 ERA. He started 15 games at team level and made 17 appearances overall.
Southland All-Academic teams are selected by the head coach, sports information director and an academic staff member from each member school. Student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00 and have completed a full academic year at the nominating institution to qualify. Nominees who were on the first team at all conferences are automatically named Southland All-Academic.
The Southland Conference Awards Committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the eight member schools, selects the Student-Athlete of the Year. Candidates for Student Athlete of the Year must have at least a 3.20 GPA and at least two years of athletic achievement at the nominating institution.
2022 Southland Conference Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year: Payton HardenMcNeese
2021 Southland Conference Baseball All-Academic First Team
Surname | school | class | grade point average | Main |
Jared Burch | HBU | sir | 3.53 | Business Administration |
RidgeRogers3 | UIW | sir | 3.91 | rehabilitation science |
GrantSmith* | UIW | jr | 3.60 | biology |
Reid Bouque | McNeese | sir | 4.00 | HHP sports & wellness management |
Cameron Foster* | McNeese | sir | 4.00 | behavioral science |
Julian Gonzales*2 | McNeese | sir | 4.00 | Biology Pre Med |
Payton Harden^* | McNeese | sir | 3.82 | Mass Communication Public Relations |
Tyler LeBlanc | New Orleans | So. | 3.54 | finance |
Alec Paz | nicholas | GR. | 3.00 | Masters, Higher Education |
Drayton Brown | Northwest State | So. | 4.00 | Business Administration |
Alex Makawich | Northwest State | So. | 3.92 | industrial engineering |
Eve Keller2 | southeast | sir | 3.79 | Chemistry |
Rhett Rosevear | southeast | So. | 4.00 | Occupational Safety, Health and Environment (OSHE |
Brandon Petkoff | Texas A&M Corpus Christi | sir | 3.86 | mathematics |
2022 Southland Conference Baseball All-Academic Second Team
Surname | school | class | grade point average | Main |
burning bale | HBU | sir | 3.53 | Interdisciplinary research |
Andrew Reitmeyer | HBU | sir | 3.40 | Kinesiology Sports Management |
Nixon Brannan | UIW | jr | 3.85 | Business Administration |
chance stone | McNeese | sir | 3.66 | HHP pre-physiotherapy |
Box Furr | New Orleans | jr | 3.19 | finance |
Collin Kullivan | New Orleans | GR. | 3.83 | Masters, Finance |
Parker Coddou | nicholas | So. | 3.58 | Business Administration |
Devin Desandro | nicholas | So. | 3.51 | health sciences |
Nico Saltaformaggio | nicholas | So. | 3.80 | Business Administration |
Dane Simon | nicholas | sir | 3.71 | health sciences |
Down Stuart | Northwest State | jr | 3.20 | Electronics engineering technology |
Will Kinzeler | southeast | So. | 3.49 | kinesiology |
Fee Trahan | southeast | GR. | 3.33 | Master of Business Administration |
Josh Cumin | Texas A&M Corpus Christi | sir | 3.50 | finance |
^ Student Athlete of the Year
* Automatic selection
2 Two-time purely academic selection
3 Three-time purely academic selection