Collegiate Baseball announced its annual "Louisville Slugger" Freshman All-American Team last week, and the Big South Conference placed five players on the squad.  Charleston Southern had the most in the Conference with three in shortstop Taylor Black, outfielder Steve Antolik and designated hitter Derek Smith.  Coastal Carolina's Scott Woodward and Winthrop's Eddie Rohan round out the Big South's selections.

Black, an Easley, S.C., native, finished second on the team with a .333 batting average and a team-high 17 doubles, and five homeruns. He appeared in all 53 games for CSU, and his doubles ranked fourth all-time in a single season at CSU.  Antolik (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Smith (Moncks Corner, S.C.) tied for a team-high 11 homeruns, each earning the distinction of becoming the first freshmen to hit double-digit homeruns since 2004.  Antolik finished the season with 11 doubles in 49 starts for CSU, accounting for a team-high 106 total bases. He hit .313, and scored 30 runs.  Smith, a first-team All-Big South selection,  finished with almost an identical stats as his fellow power hitter. He hit .314 for the season with 12 doubles, and 104 total bases. Both sluggers held a slugging percentage over .530.

Woodward helped the Chanticleers become the first team in Big South history to advance to the NCAA Super Regional.  He was second on the team (and fourth in the Big South) with a .364 batting average with 15 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 45 RBI in 64 starts for the Chants. Woodward had a League-best .540 on-base percentage, which is a single-season school record.  He also has been hit by a pitch 30 times, which is a school and Big South record.  He was named to the All-Conway Regional team, scoring 10 runs and hitting .600 in the three games.  Woodward was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI in the championship game against East Carolina June 1.  He drove in five runs in a win over UNC Asheville April 19 and had five hits in a win over Charleston Southern April 12.  The Big South Conference Freshman of the Year, he led the League with 82 runs scored and 42 stolen bases and has walked 58 times.

Rohan hit a team-best and Winthrop-freshman record 13 home runs and drove in 39 runs, earned All-Big South Second-Team honors as he ranked fifth in the league and first among all freshmen in round trippers.  The Youngstown, Ohio, native also topped all Big South rookies in slugging percentage, with a .536 mark.  Rohan did not waste any time to go yard wearing a Winthrop uniform as he hit a homer in the second game of the season as the Eagles fell to St. John’s 3-4 on Feb. 24.  One day later, Rohan went deep again and got four hits in four at bats, while driving in three runs to lead the Eagles to a 17-5 win over Gardner-Webb.  His career-high for RBI came against Charleston Southern on April 19 as he drove in four runners home, while also hitting a home run in the 21-15 Eagle win.

The full "Louisville Slugger" Freshman All-American list can be found at: www.baseballnews.com