Quintet of Eagles earn All-SAC honors
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman has placed five players on the All-South Atlantic Conference teams as voted on by the league’s coaches, and released to the public Thursday morning by the league office.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman has placed five players on the All-South Atlantic Conference teams as voted on by the league's coaches, and released to the public Thursday morning by the league office.
Three Eagles made the first team - Hayden Dye (Powell, Tenn.) at short, Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange, Conn.) at third and Macey Hughes (Corryton, Tenn.) as a utility player/non-pitcher. Two Eagles took spots on the second team – Macauley Bailey (Cross Plains, Tenn.) at catcher and Emma Frost (Morristown, Tenn.) at pitcher.
Dye hit .430 this season with 13 doubles, two triples and 12 home runs. She has also drive in 56 runs. Dye finished the regular season sixth in the conference in batting average and fourth in runs batted in. Her 12 bombs are also sixth in the conference. Dye produced 17 multi-hit games, including her first career four-hit day against Coker on March 5. She has drive in multiple runs in 15 games this season. She topped out with a career-best six-RBI day against Coker.
If Dye keeps her batting average north of .430, it would mark the 20th time in program history an Eagle has hit better than .430 for a season. At present standing, her .803 slugging percentage is tied for the sixth-best in school history. Four more RBI would give her the eighth 60-RBI campaign in school history.
Matyasovsky has been incredible for C-N at third base. She is hitting .353 with eight doubles and 14 home runs with 36 runs batted in. Potentially more impressive is her career-long 24-game streak playing error free at the hot corner. Matyasovsky has a .959 fielding percentage and only four errors at third this season.
Matyasovsky's 14 home runs are tied for the fourth-most in a single season in school history. She drove in a career-best six runs against Wheeling on March 10. That game against the Cardinals was one of three this year where she hit two home runs (Coker on March 5 and Southern Wesleyan and March 7) are the others. She has 10 multi-RBI efforts this year and 12 multi-hit days.
Hughes has been epic at the plate since moving to the leadoff spot in the lineup. Her .438 batting average is the third-highest in the SAC for the regular season. Hughes has smashed 63 hits, 19 doubles, a triple and three home runs while driving in 31. Her 19 two-base hits are the third-most in a season in school history. She has scored the seventh-most runs in school history with 56 this year. Her .529 on-base percentage is the 10th-highest for a single-season.
Hughes rides a seven-game hitting streak and an 11-game reached base streak in to the SAC tournament. She has produced 20 multi-hit games this year, including a 5-for-5 day at the plate where she tied four other Eagles for the single-game record for hits, which she accomplished against Milligan on April 16. Hughes is also top five all-time in RBI for a career with 167. She is tied with Sara Kelley and her 167 for third-most all-time. It would take another seven RBI to get to Sara Little and second-all-time (174).
This is Hughes fourth consecutive All-SAC honor and her second straight first-team recognition as a utility player. Hughes is the seventh player in program history to earn an all-league honor from the SAC four times.
Bailey earns a second straight All-SAC honor after receiving recognition as a first-team designated player last year. Bailey has replicated her numbers from her freshman All-America campaign. Bailey is the only player in school history to hit 15 home runs in consecutive seasons. She is also only the second player in school history to drive in 55 or more runs in consecutive seasons.
She hit .387 with 10 doubles and the 15 home runs. Her 59 runs batted in lead the South Atlantic Conference. She has 17 multi-RBI efforts this year, including a six-RBI day against Milligan to match a career high. She has driven in at least four runs in six games this year. Bailey also matched a career high with a four-hit day against Milligan.
Frost earns all-SAC honors for a fourth time in her career. Emma Frost tallied 16 wins in the circle for the Eagles in the regular season against just three losses en route to all-SAC honors. The Lincoln Memorial transfer struck out 148 in the regular season to finish in the top four in the SAC. She has struck out at least eight in five of her appearances.
Frost became the first Carson-Newman pitcher to toss a perfect game in a decade. The senior went 15 up and 15 down without allowing a base-runner in a run-rule win over Kentucky State. Frost struck out 13 of the 15 batters she faced. The 13 Ks are tied for the fifth-most in a game in school history. KSU struggled to make contact all game long. Frost threw 63 pitches, 48 of which were strikes. Thorobred batters only got a bat to eight of those pitches. She has earned SAC Pitcher of the Week honors twice this season.
