Charlotte Star Dylan Koontz Earns American Conference All-Conference First Team Honors
Dylan Koontz headlined a quartet of Charlotte Baseball players on the American Conference All-Conference teams on Tuesday (May 19) as the lone First Team recipient for the 49ers.
He was joined on the All-Conference teams by Second Team selections Cody Gunderson, Todd Hudson, and Alec DeMartino. Gunderson is the only returning 49er of this year’s All-Conference selections, earning his second All-Conference nod in as many years after First Team recognition a year ago.
Koontz is the 71st First Team All-Conference selection in program history and the fourth for the Niners as members of the American Conference. The four total selections give the Green and White 129 All-Conference selections in the team’s 47 years of conference affiliation.
With four selections, Charlotte is tied with East Carolina for the second-most players represented on the two All-Conference teams, trailing only UTSA’s six. Both UTSA and East Carolina tied for the best record in conference play.
Dylan Koontz • First Team All-Conference • DH
Koontz has shown a knack for getting on base all year, ranking 10th in the American Conference among qualified batters with a .447 on-base percentage this year. He’s second on the Niners with 11 home runs and 51 RBIs, ranking tied for seventh and eighth in the conference, respectively. Koontz leads the team and is 10th in the conference with 37 bases on balls and leads both the 49ers and the conference with 19 hit by pitches – setting a Charlotte Baseball program record with his 19th HBP against Memphis last weekend to sit 52nd in the country heading into conference tournament week. He leads the team with 14 multi-RBI games and has eight games with 3+ RBIs and five with at least four RBIs.
Cody Gunderson • Second Team All-Conference • 1B
Gunderson is making his second appearance on an American Conference All-Conference list after taking home a First Team nod last year. He’s second on the team with a .336 batting average, 10th in the conference among qualified batters, and leads Charlotte with 73 hits to sit fourth in the league. His 16 doubles are the most on the team and tied for fourth in the conference while his nine home runs are the fourth-most for CLT. He is one of three 49ers to play and start in all 55 games over the regular season and provided the walk-off winner to punch Charlotte’s ticket into the American Conference Championships in the final game of the regular season in his 100th game wearing the Green and White.
Alec DeMartino • Second Team All-Conference • OF
DeMartino has been on a tear late in the campaign, ending the regular season with back-to-back American Conference weekly award honorable mentions. He’s jumped his average up to a team-leading .337 heading into the conference tournament to sit eighth in the conference among qualified batters. He’s tied for fifth in the league with a team-leading 52 RBIs and ranks second on Charlotte’s roster with 15 doubles and third with 68 hits. He’s one of only 11 players in the conference to have at least three triples this year, helping him to a .619 slugging percentage and 1.056 OPS to rank fourth and sixth among qualified batters in the American while leading the team in both categories.
Todd Hudson • Second Team All-Conference • OF
Hudson is another corner outfielder for the 49ers batting over .330 on the season, entering the conference tournament with a .332 clip. He’s fourth on the team with 67 hits, third with 10 home runs, and is third with 42 RBIs. Ranking third in slugging with a .515 mark, his OPS of .918 is fourth among Green and White batters. One of two players with multiple grand slams this year, Hudson is tied for the team lead with 21 multi-hit games, averaging one every 2.62 contests. Also with a live arm in left field, Hudson leads the 49ers with five outfield assists this year.
Charlotte begins its run in the American Conference Championships on Wednesday (May 20) at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Florida, as the No. 8 seed against No. 5 seed Memphis. First pitch will be 47 minutes following the conclusion of the first game of the tournament, No. 6 Florida Atlantic against No. 7 Wichita State, which begins at 1 p.m.