The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns saw one of their star players in Drake Osborn receive one of the Sun Belt Conference’s top honors on Monday, being named Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year.
Osborn is the first Ragin’ Cajun to receive Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year honors since Nolan Gisclair in 2007. The Sandia, Texas native is one of 16 catchers across the country to be named a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award.
Osborn is hitting a team-high .333 and leads the Sun Belt Conference in doubles (16) among catchers.
Osborn was joined on the All-Sun Belt first team by pitcher Connor Cooke and Ben Fitzgerald. Louisiana’s three led the conference with first-team honors.
Cooke had an incredible sophomore campaign, posting a 2.04 overall ERA and led the conference in opposing batting average (.146) and second in strikeouts (60) in conference play.
Fitzgerald is one of the best overall hitters in the Sun Belt, ranking in the top of the conference in slugging (3rd), doubles (7th), home runs (4th) and total bases (5th). He is one of three Ragin’ Cajuns in the last 10 years to hit .300, record 10 home runs and knock more than 15 doubles.
Below is the complete list of the Sun Belt end-of-season awards with Cajuns players listed in Bold.
Player of the Year
Mason McWhorter, Georgia Southern (Gr., OF – Cumming, Ga.)
Pitcher of the Year
Hayden Arnold, Little Rock (Sr., P – Rison, Ark.)
Freshman of the Year
Garrett Gainous, Troy (Fr., P – Cairo, Ga.)
Newcomer of the Year
Drake Osborn, Louisiana (Sr., C)
Ron Maestri Coach of the Year
Mark Calvi, South Alabama
All-Sun Belt First Team
Connor Cooke, Louisiana (So., P)
Hayden Arnold, Little Rock (Sr., P)
Carlos Tavera, UTA (Jr., P)
Nick Jones, Georgia Southern (Sr., RP)
Drake Osborn, Louisiana (Sr., C)
Robbie Young, App State (Sr., 1B)
Luke Drumheller, App State (Jr., 2B)
Drew Frederic, Troy (Sr., SS)
Ben Klutts, Arkansas State (Jr., 3B)
Mason McWhorter, Georgia Southern (Gr., OF)
Logan Cerny, Troy (So., OF)
Ethan Wilson, South Alabama (Jr., OF)
Cameron Jones, Georgia State (Fr., UT)
Ben Fitzgerald, Louisiana (Jr., DH)
All-Sun Belt Second Team
JoJo Booker, South Alabama (Sr., P)
Tyler Tuthill, App State (Jr, P)
Jeremy Lee, South Alabama (Fr., P)
Aaron Barkley, Little Rock (Gr., RP)
BT Riopelle, Coastal Carolina (Jr., C)
Dylan Paul, UTA (RS Sr., 1B)
Travis Washburn, ULM (So., 2B)
Eric Brown, Coastal Carolina (So., SS)
Grant Schulz, ULM (Jr., 3B)
Tyler Duncan, Arkansas State (Sr., OF)
Parker Chavers, Coastal Carolina (RS Jr., OF)
Josh Smith, Georgia State (So., OF)
Andrew Miller, UTA (Sr., UT)
Noah Ledford, Georgia Southern (Jr., DH)