The Collegiate Conference of the South on Wednesday announced its 2024 Baseball All-Conference teams and yearly awards with five Covenant student-athletes among the honorees.
On the yearly awards side, two players in their first year as college baseball players were recognized. Freshman third baseman Sam Cecil was named CCS Rookie Player of the Year while freshman right-handed pitcher Jonathan Glover won CCS Rookie Pitcher of the Year. Cecil and Glover are the first Covenant players since 2015 to win an end-of-year conference award.
Senior outfielder Kenny Mills was the lone Scot to earn All-CCS first team honors.
Glover, senior right-handed pitcher Bryce Bollinger and senior shortstop Zeke Gilbert were named to the second team.
In 34 games, Cecil batted .303 with 16 RBIs and three home runs. The Knoxville native had seven doubles on the year and scored 19 runs. In the field, Cecil tallied 32 assists and 10 putouts.
Glover in 16 appearances for a total of 20.2 innings pitched, allowed just two runs, only one of which was earned for the duration of the regular season. In his first year with the Scots, Glover posted a 0.44 ERA, earned five saves, and tallied 16 strikeouts.
With a .396 batting average, Mills led the CCS. He played in all 40 games for Covenant and led his team with 36 RBIs. Other offensive statistics include 32 runs scored and 11 doubles. Playing center field, Mills yielded a .962 fielding percentage with four assists.
Bollinger, serving as Covenant's Friday starter all season, threw 77 innings in 12 appearances and held a 6-3 record. The Nashville native has a 3.74 ERA and has thrown three complete games this season. Bollinger also has struck out a team-high 47 batters for the year.
Gilbert played in 37 games for the Scots and was a .329 batter with a team-high seven home runs while also having 20 RBIs. Additionally, Gilbert scored a team-high 34 runs and hit eight doubles. At shortstop, Gilbert tallied 98 assists and 45 putouts.
Covenant begins postseason play today at 3 p.m. at Maryville in the CCS Tournament.