NEW ORLEANS - Two App State baseball standouts were named to the 2022 Preseason All-Sun Belt Team Thursday.
Tyler Tuthill was named Preseason All-Sun Belt as a starting pitcher, and Luke Drumheller earned Preseason All-Sun Belt honors at second base. App State was just one of four Sun Belt squads to have multiple all-conference players on the 2022 preseason list.
Tuthill was a second-team All-Sun Belt selection for his play last season and was also recently named to the Perfect Game USA All-Conference team. In Sun Belt regular-season action last year, his ERA of 1.59 ranked second in the league. His opposing batting average of .160 was also second in the conference.
Tuthill ranked first in the Sun Belt and 10th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings during the regular season with 5.07, 4.8 in league play. He finished 4-6 overall with a 3.32 ERA in 14 games (all starts) and 89.1 innings, allowing opposing batters to hit just .174 while posting 76 strikeouts.
He struck out five batters and allowed just three hits in 6.0 scoreless innings as App State beat 2021 division champion and 2022 preseason favorite South Alabama in the final regular-season series. Tuthill finished with 11 strikeouts during his seven innings at Miami, allowing just two earned runs and extended his hitless streak to 10 consecutive innings before allowing Miami's first hit.
Tuthill was the only Sun Belt pitcher in 2021 with a nine-inning, complete-game win on the road.
Drumheller was named First-team All-Sun Belt last season at second base. He batted a team-high .289 in 52 games (all starts) while leading the team with 39 RBIs and 58 hits. He also had 30 runs, five homers, 10 doubles, one triple, a .423 slugging percentage and a .354 on-base percentage.
Drumheller batted .289 in league play with three homers, 17 RBIs and six doubles in just 21 games. He drove in all three of App State runs in two Sun Belt tournament games, hitting a sixth-inning RBI single in the 1-0 win against Texas State and a two-run single that pulled the Mountaineers within 3-2 in the fifth inning against Louisiana.
His five homers led full-time Sun Belt second basemen during the regular season. Drumheller had 18 multiple hit games and had five games with at least three RBIs, including games with homers against Georgia State and ULM.
App State opens the 2022 campaign on Feb. 18-20 on the road at Campbell in Buies Creek, North Carolina.
The 2022 wrestling season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
2022 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Preseason Awards
Preseason Player of the Year
Eric Brown, Coastal Carolina (Jr., SS – Bossier City, La.)
Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Miles Smith, South Alabama (Sr., SP – Laurel, Miss.)
Preseason All-Sun Belt
Miles Smith, South Alabama (Sr., SP – Laurel, Miss.)
Hayden Arnold, Little Rock (Sr., SP – Rison, Ark.)
Tyler Tuthill, App State (Jr., SP – Clayton, N.C.)
Brandon Talley, Louisiana (Sr., RP – Princeton, Texas)
Caleb Bartolero, Troy (Jr., C – Woodstock, Ga.)
Jason Swan, Georgia Southern (Sr., 1B – Jacksonville, Fla.)
Luke Drumheller, App State (Jr., 2B – Charlotte, N.C.)
Eric Brown, Coastal Carolina (Jr., SS – Bossier City, La.)
Ben Klutts, Arkansas State (Sr., 3B – Poteau, Okla.)
Christian Avant, Georgia Southern (Sr., OF – Tifton, Ga.)
Josh Smith, Georgia State (Jr., OF – College Park, Ga.)
Rigsby Mosley, Troy (Sr., OF – Maitland, Fla.)
Cameron Jones, Georgia State (So., UT – Kathleen, Ga.)
Noah Ledford, Georgia Southern (Jr., DH – Buford, Ga.)
