The success of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s baseball division champions is reflected by the 2023 season award winners, as Virginia’s Kyle Teel earned ACC Player of the Year honors while Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder repeated as the ACC Pitcher of the Year, and the Demon Deacons’ Tom Walter is the ACC Coach of the Year.
One lone Hokie was named to the first team in the form of outfielder Jack Hurley.
In addition, Clemson’s Cam Cannarella was tabbed the ACC Freshman of the Year, and ACC Defensive Player of the Year accolades went to North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt.
ACC season honors were determined by a vote of the league’s 14 head coaches. The coaches also selected the All-ACC team announced on Monday afternoon.
Teel is one huge reason the Coastal Division champion Cavaliers carry a nine-game winning streak into this week’s ACC Baseball Championship in Durham, North Carolina. The junior catcher from Mahwah, New Jersey leads the conference in batting average (.414) and total hits (91). His 23 doubles tie for both the ACC lead and the Virginia single-season record.
Teel has 11 homers with 58 RBI (seventh among ACC players), and his .480 on-base percentage ranks fifth in the conference. He is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy awarded to college baseball’s top player and has started all 55 games in 2023 (and 113 straight dating back to last season) at the catcher position. He is on the Buster Posey Award Watch List and is currently the No. 1 catcher in the country according to D1Baseball.com’s positional power rankings.
Wake Forest’s Lowder becomes the first player since Virginia’s Danny Hultzen (2010-11) to claim back-to-back ACC Pitcher of the Year awards. The Albemarle, North Carolina junior has keyed the top-ranked Demon Deacons to a record-setting season as the only pitcher in the nation with a perfect 12-0 record in 2023.
Lowder is now tied for fourth in single-season wins by a Wake Forest pitcher and is just the second pitcher in Wake Forest history to post back-to-back seasons with at least 11 wins. (Scott Siemon, 1999-2000). Lowder owns a 1.73 ERA in 88.2 innings to go along with a career-high 108 strikeouts. In conference competition, Lowder is the ACC leader in ERA (1.98) and wins (8) while throwing the most innings (63.2).
Clemson’s Cannarella becomes the fourth Tiger to claim ACC Freshman of the Year honors and the first since Seth Beer in 2016. The Hartsville, South Carolina outfielder has been an integral part of a Clemson team that closed the regular season on a 12-game winning streak, tying for third among ACC players with 88 total base hits while leading the conference in stolen bases (23) and tying for fourth in runs scored (64).
Cannarella closed the regular season leading the Tigers in batting (.393) with five homers and 39 RBI. He started all 53 games in which he appeared.
North Carolina’s Vance Honeycutt continued to be a defensive mainstay for the Tar Heels in his sophomore season, including several ESPN SportsCenter highlight catches to rob opposing hitters of home runs. The Salisbury, North Carolina native has recorded 141 putouts while making 50 starts in center field.
Walter becomes the first from Wake Forest to be named ACC Coach of the Year since George Greer in 2002. In his 14th season, Walter has led the Demon Deacons to school records for regular-season wins (45), conference wins (22) and ACC series victories (10).
Wake Forest, which has posted the eighth 40-win season in program history, leads the nation in total wins and winning percentage (.833). The Demon Deacons won their first ACC Atlantic Division title this season and finished with the highest regular-season winning percentage among ACC teams in conference play for the first time since 1963. Wake Forest became the first ACC program since North Carolina in 2017 to win all 10 of its league series.
Wake Forest leads all schools with nine total selections on the All-ACC first, second or third teams, followed by seven each from Miami and Virginia, five from Georgia Tech and four from Clemson.
All-ACC First Team
Billy Amick, Clemson, So., DH/UT
Cam Cannarella, Clemson, Fr., OF
Alex Mooney, Duke, So., SS
Stephen Reid, Georgia Tech, Jr., OF
Yohandy Morales, Miami, Jr., 3B
Andrew Walters, Miami, So., RP
Jake Gelof, Virginia, Jr., 3B
Ethan O’Donnell, Virginia, Jr., OF
Griff O’Ferrall, Virginia, So., SS
Kyle Teel, Virginia, Jr., C
Jack Hurley, Virginia Tech, Jr., OF
Josh Hartle, Wake Forest, So., SP
Justin Johnson, Wake Forest, Jr., 2B
Nick Kurtz, Wake Forest, So., 1B
Rhett Lowder, Wake Forest, Jr., SP
Sean Sullivan, Wake Forest, So., SP—ACC
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