Baseball
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Pappano, Smith catch conference honors
Hanover College baseball players Will Pappano (Tell City, Ind.) and Josh Smith (Georgetown, Ind.) have each earned postseason honors from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Pappano, a junior outfielder, was selected to the HCAC's first team by the league's nine head coaches. Smith, an outfielder and pitcher, was chosen as the conference's freshman of the year.
In 38 games for the Panthers, Pappano batted a team-leading .406 with 21 runs-batted-in. He also led the squad with 155 at-bats, 63 hits, 75 total bases, 12 doubles, 25 walks, 29 runs and seven stolen bases.
Pappano earned all-HCAC honors for the second time in his three seasons at Hanover. He was an honorable mention selection as a freshman.
Smith ranked second on the club with a .328 batting average. He totaled 43 hits in 131 at-bats with nine doubles, one triple and two home runs. He knocked in 18 runs and scored 25 times.
As a pitcher, Smith posted a 2-1 record in nine appearances. He had a 4.43 earned run average in 44 and two-thirds innings on the mound for the Panthers. He posted 39 strikeouts and issued 18 walks.
Smith is the first Hanover player to win HCAC freshman of the year award since 2002, when pitcher Brett Rauch won the honor.
Hanover placed eighth in the Heartland Conference standings with a 6-16 record. The Panthers finished 12-25-1 overall.
All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference team
Panthers picked eighth in HCAC race
A polling of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball coaches has pegged Hanover College to place eighth in the hunt for the league's 2009 championship.
The Panthers, under fourth-year head coach Shayne Stock, picked up 20 points from the conference's nine head coaches. Hanover posted an 8-27 overall record in 2008. The squad was eighth in the HCAC race with a 3-19 mark.
2009 Heartland Conference Preseason Baseball Poll
In a four-team group atop the conference, Franklin College earned 70 points and three first-place votes to get the coaches' nod as the favorite to win the Heartland Conference crown. The Grizzlies finished 26-14 overall in 2008 and placed second in the league with a 16-6 mark.
The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (67 votes), Transylvania University (66) and the College of Mount St. Joseph (63) rounded out the top four spots in the poll. All three schools received a pair of first-place votes.
Hanover will launch its 2009 campaign Sunday, Feb. 22, with a doubleheader against Davenport University (Mich.) at the RussMatt Invitational in Winter Park, Fla. The Panthers' home-opener will be March 3 against Thomas More College (Ky.) at the L.S. Ayres Athletic Complex. The team's conference lid-lifter will be March 20 against Bluffton University (Ohio).