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<\/a>Torres pitched a pair of complete game victories in his two postseason starts this year for the Pioneers.<\/p><\/div>\n
Placido Torres<\/strong>, who was drafted in the eighth round by the New York Mets in June, is pitching for the club\u2019s rookie league affiliate in Kingsport.\u00a0 The 2016 consensus NCAA Division II National Pitcher of the Year has made nine relief appearances out of the Mets\u2019 bullpen where he has a 1-1 record and a 3.97 ERA.\u00a0 Torres got off to a slow start with the K-Mets, but is returning to his stellar form of late, posting a 1.59 ERA in his last five outings with nine strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work.<\/p>\n Torres, a product of North Brunswick, NJ, captured every NCAA Division II Pitcher of the Year accolade in the finest season ever recorded by a Tusculum hurler. He swept the three national pitcher of the year awards by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CAA – selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America).\u00a0 He was also tabbed the 2016 recipient of the Brett Tomko Award, which recognizes the DII National Pitcher of the Year as selected by D2 Baseball News. Torres was also named the 2015-16 Tusculum College Male Athlete of the Year and the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Male Athlete of the Year. He posted a perfect 11-0 record in his 14 starts where he pitched seven complete games, including a Tusculum-single-season record four shutouts. He led all three NCAA divisions with a school single-season record 162 strikeouts.\u00a0 His seasonal strikeout total is the second most in SAC history and the 10th most in NCAA II history.<\/p>\n Devan Watts<\/strong> was selected in the 17th<\/sup> round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves.\u00a0 He was assigned to the Braves\u2019 rookie league affiliate in Danville (Va.) where he pitched in only four games and didn\u2019t allow a run in his four innings of relief while also posting a save.\u00a0 \u00a0Watts, a right-hander from Mooresville, NC, was promoted to Class-A Rome (Ga.) where he has continued his mound dominance for the Braves.\u00a0 He has appeared in nine contests and has a sterling 1.69 ERA with a 1-1 record and is tied for the team lead with five saves.\u00a0 He has recorded 12 strikeouts in his 10.2 innings of work. In Watts\u2019 two seasons at Tusculum, the 2015 All-Region and All-SAC choice has recorded 14 saves and a 6-7 record in his 99.2 innings of work in his 43 relief appearances.\u00a0 He accounted for a 2.98 career earned run average with 121 strikeouts and 25 walks.\u00a0 His 14 saves are the fourth most in Tusculum history.<\/p>\n Brandon Dickson<\/strong>, a right-handed pitcher from Montgomery, AL, currently has an 8-9 record with a 4.32 earned run average in his fourth season with the Orix Buffaloes in the Nippon Professional League in Japan.\u00a0 In 2016, he has appeared in 19 games and pitched in 118.2 innings and has recorded 93 strikeouts against 58 walks. Dickson is in his 11th professional season, including the first seven within the St. Louis Cardinals organization, which signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Tusculum in 2006.\u00a0 He played two separate stints with the parent club in 2011 and again in 2012.\u00a0 He appeared in eight games for St. Louis, posting a 4.91 ERA in his 14.2 innings of work with no decisions.\u00a0 He posted 13 strikeouts and made his lone major league start on Sept. 1, 2011, against the Milwaukee Brewers.\u00a0 In his only season at Tusculum (2006), Dickson went 5-2 with a 3.39 ERA. His 24 mound appearances are tied for the second most in a season at Tusculum.<\/p>\n Alexi Colon<\/strong> is playing in his fifth professional season and fourth in independent ball.\u00a0 He started this year with the Lincoln (Neb.) Saltdogs of the American Association where he played the first 10 games of the season.\u00a0 He was later dealt to the River City Rascals, where he has emerged as one of the power hitters in the league with his 12 home runs, which are fourth-most in the Frontier League.\u00a0 His 43 walks this season are the fourth most in the league while playing for the O\u2019Fallon, Missouri club. From 2013-2015, he played for the Schaumburg (Ill.) Boomers, where he led that club to a pair of Frontier League titles in 2013 and again in 2014.\u00a0 Colon, a two-time All-SAC and All-Region selection, completed his two-year career at Tusculum as its third-leading home run hitter, belting 33 round-trippers.\u00a0 In 2012, Colon finished second in the nation with 21 home runs, which were tied for the second most in Tusculum school \u00a0history and ninth most in South Atlantic Conference history.<\/p>\n Maikol Gonzalez <\/strong>is a nine-year veteran of professional baseball and is in his first year with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association.\u00a0 He is batting .276 in his 72 games where he has 81 hits, including 10 doubles, two triples and three home runs.\u00a0 He leads the team with his 22 stolen bases (26 attempts) and has 33 RBI with 47 walks against just 38 strikeouts in his 293 at-bats. He played the 2015 campaign with Joplin in the American Association where he batted .305 with eight home runs and 44 RBI with the Blasters.\u00a0 Gonzalez stops in the American Association also include Joplin (Ill.), Lincoln (Neb.) and three seasons in El Paso (Texas). Gonzalez, a native of Maraca Ibo, Venezuela, played two seasons at Tusculum from 2007-2008 where he hit for a school record .457 in his 113 career games and was a two-time consensus All-American.\u00a0 He still holds the school record for career triples and career on-base percentage (.522).\u00a0 His 49 career stolen bases are second in Pioneer history, while his 13 career sacrifice flies are fourth-most.<\/p>\n Matt Henriksen<\/strong> is playing his third season with the Alpine Cowboys of the Pecos League.\u00a0 In 2016, the Hingham, MA product is batting .338 with 44 hits, including five doubles and six home runs.\u00a0 In his 43 games, he has accumulated 38 RBI with 22 walks and has three stolen bases to his credit. Henriksen played at Tusculum from 2010-2013 where he finished his career with a .320 batting average and is listed in the top-10 in 10 statistical categories in the TC record book.<\/p>\n Cody Coffman<\/strong> is playing in his first season with the Roswell Invaders in the Pecos League.\u00a0 He is batting a hefty .418 with 22 doubles, 22 home runs and 76 RBI in his 64 games.\u00a0 He has totaled 100 hits and scored 80 runs, while earning a spot on the North Division All-Star Team. Coffman, a native of Cape Coral, FL, played two seasons at Tusculum from 2011-2012 where he batted .391 with 141 hits in 361 at-bats.\u00a0 During Tusculum\u2019s 2012 SAC title run, he earned All-America honors as a utility player as he logged playing time at catcher and first base.\u00a0 He led the Pioneers with his .417 batting average, which is the eighth-best by a Pioneer. He finished fourth in the country with his 90 hits (4th in TC history), including 19 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 62 RBI.\u00a0 He scored 52 runs, while drawing 41 walks against just 17 strikeouts<\/p>\n Former Pioneer pitcher Cameron Carney<\/strong> joined Henriksen on the Alpine Cowboys roster.\u00a0 Carney, a native of Niagara Falls. NY, has not made an appearance for Alpine since joining the team. Carney made 17 appearances this past spring for the Pioneers, including seven starts where he posted a 4-0 record and a 4.40 earned average.\u00a0 He combined on a pair of shutouts and posted a save against Catawba.\u00a0 He pitched in 47 innings where he tallied 44 strikeouts against 10 walks and limited the opposition to a .272 batting average.\u00a0 In his two years at Tusculum, he finished with a perfect 5-0 record in his 29 appearances, including two saves and a 5.38 ERA.\u00a0 He tallied 65 strikeouts against 20 walks.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ’00s<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Lauren Abramson Baes \u201902 <\/strong>of Franklin, TN, is entering her second year as the head athletic trainer at Father Ryan High School, the largest private high school in Tennessee. Baes and her fellow staff members oversee 600 athletes and 26 sports teams. In June 2016, the school was awarded the 1st Team Safe Sports Award from the National Athletic Trainer’s Society. This award is given to secondary schools that demonstrate they are keeping their athletes safe with certain procedures and protocols in case of injuries or emergencies. Father Ryan High School is only the 15th school in the state of Tennessee to receive this award.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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