Around the SEC: May 20, 2014

The SEC Baseball Tournament takes place this week. All information can be found here: http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/SECSPORTS/BaseballTournament

South Carolina’s Andrew Adams Prepares for NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Competition:

South Carolina junior Andrew Adams got his first look at the draw for the NCAA Singles Championships today, and the Gamecocks’ top performer will meet Baylor’s Julian Lenz at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the University of Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis complex. It is Adams’ first appearance at the event.

Adams earned All-SEC Second Team honors behind a 13-9 dual-match record that featured a 6-4 mark in the top spot of the Gamecocks’ lineup. It was his second season on the team after capturing SEC All-Freshman Team recognition in his collegiate debut. This season Adams’ 13 wins include six over nationally ranked opponents, highlighted by a dominant performance against then-No. 16 Nik Scholtz, which would be the only SEC loss of the season for the league’s eventual Player of the Year.

South Carolina’s Boo Major Named National Coach of the Year by NCEA

University of South Carolina head coach Boo Major has been named 2014 National Coach of the Year, it was announcedon Tuesday by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association.

“This is a big honor for Boo and we felt she was very deserving of this award,” said Meghan Cunningham Corvin, president of the NCEA and head coach at UT-Martin. “She’s one of the longest serving coaches in the country and has been a leader in our sport.”

Major, who just completed her 17th season at the University of South Carolina, was voted national coach of the year by her peers. She guided the Gamecocks to a 15-3 record this season and their second straight Southeastern Conference championship, becoming South Carolina’s first team to win back-to-back SEC titles. She was also voted SEC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. South Carolina finished as the national runner-up this season, losing to Georgia in a tiebreaker in the national championship.

South Carolina’s Ashlyn Masters, Kristen Struett Named to Tallahassee All-Regional Team

A pair of Gamecocks made the 2014 Tallahassee All-Regional Team, as senior Ashlyn Masters and Kristen Struett earned such recognition for their play in the 2014 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament’s opening round.

Masters had two homers in the regional, the only student-athlete to have more than one, and she tied for the lead in the event in hits and runs scored. Her two homers on Saturday put her into a tie for seventh in South Carolina history with eight round-trippers in a season. Struett went 3-for-10 in the event and had the only triple of the weekend.

South Carolina completed its fourth year under head coach Beverly Smith with a 36-22 record, the second-straight 30-win season that included back-to-back NCAA Regional Appearances for the first time since 2003-04. The team set four new single-season offensive marks, including its first 50-homer, 200-walk season as a squad.

South Carolina Sophomore Center Receives Preseason Recognition

University of South Carolina center Cody Waldrop is one of 64 players named to the Rimington Trophy spring watch list, it was announced today. The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the Most Outstanding Center in Division I-A College Football.

Waldrop, a 6-2, 309-pound sophomore from Seffner, Fla., is slated to be the Gamecocks’ starting center in 2014. As a redshirt freshman in 2013, Waldrop started six games while battling injuries for much of the season. A member of the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll, Waldrop was recognized during the 2013 spring game as the Most Improved Freshman on the offensive side of the ball.