NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State junior left fielder Will Watson has been named to the 2012 All-Southland Conference baseball second team while senior center fielder Drew Helenihi and senior pitcher Joe Scanio have been voted onto the third team by votes of league coaches and sports information directors, the league announced Monday.
 
Senior third baseman Nick Hinojos and junior pitcher Mason Melotakis were named to the honorable mention squad.
 
Watson, a native of Southlake, Texas, led the Demons in hitting with a .335 batting average and also tied for the team lead with 23 stolen bases.  His average ranked ninth in the conference to end the regular season while his 23 swipes tied him for second overall.
 
Helenihi, one of seven players to wrap up their careers as a Demon and native of Livermore, Calif., finished second on the team with a .319 batting average and a .399 on-base percentage, second best on the squad.  He tied with Watson with 17 multi-hit games to lead the squad while his 12-game hitting streak earlier in the season ranked as the best for the team this year.  He also put together a 23-game reached base streak.
 
Scanio, a senior out of St. Louis, set a new school single-season record with 31 appearances to go along with a 5-4 record and a team-low 2.96 ERA.
 
He compiled three saves, struckout 72 batters and threw 67 innings.
 
Hinojos, a senior from El Paso, was the only player to start in all 51 games as he finished the season with a .272 batting average while playing in the outfield, third base, second base, first base, and shortstop throughout the season.
 
Melotakis, a junior from Grapevine, Texas, likely saw his last action as a Demon pitcher as he's expected to be an early round draft pick in next month's Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
 
Melo finished 4-4 on the year with a 3.63 ERA and had seven saves before being moved into the Friday night starter slot late in the season.  He struckout a team-high 70 batters in 62 innings pitched and fanned 14 batters in a game against Central Arkansas – one shy of the school's single-game record.
 
Southeastern Louisiana's Brock Hebert was named the league's Player of the Year and Hitter of the Year while Travis Ballew of Texas State was voted as Pitcher of the Year.  SLU's Stefan Lopez earned Relief Pitcher of the Year honors while teammate Andro Cutura was named Freshman of the Year.  Texas A&M-Corpus Christi pitcher Danile Minor earned Newcomer of the Year honors and Sam Houston State head coach David Pierce received the Coach of the Year award.
 
Sam Houston State and Texas State each placed a league-best five student-athletes on the three all-conference teams, including two on the first team, one on the second team and two more on the third team. Sam Houston junior third baseman Kevin Miller and sophomore designated hitter Anthony Azar earned first-team honors. Sophomore Caleb Smith earned second-team kudos, while senior outfielder Jake Arrington and senior right-handed pitcher Michael Oros earned third-team mention.
 
Texas State placed two players on the first team with senior outfielder Jeff McVaney joining Ballew on the top all-conference squad. Junior catcher Andrew Stumph and junior left-hander Colton Turner earned second-team honors and senior first baseman Casey Kalenkosky garnered a spot on the third team.
 
Central Arkansas, Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin each had four all-conference selections with the Lions nabbing a league-high three spots on the first team, including Hebert, Lopez and senior first baseman Jonathan Pace. Northwestern State and UT Arlington each had three all-conference honorees, while Nicholls State, UTSA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi each had two. With one all-conference selection each for Lamar and McNeese State, all 12 league teams were represented.
 
Another 16 student-athletes earned honorable mention after earning votes from at least 25 percent of the league's coaches and sports information directors.
 
Nine of the 36 all-conference players were repeat selections, including Texas State's McVaney, a three-time honoree. Hebert, Stumph and Kalenkosy are two-time honorees as are McNeese State senior outfielder Seth Granger, UTSA junior third baseman Ryan Dalton, Central Arkansas senior outfielder Jonathan Davis, Nicholls State designated hitter Jeremy Hill and Stephen F. Austin senior catcher Jarid Scarafiotti.
 
 
2012 All-Southland Conference Baseball Teams

First Team
Pos.	Name	University	Class	Hometown
1B	Jonathan Pace	Southeastern La.	Sr.	Terry, Miss.
2B	Brock Hebert2	Southeastern La.	Jr.	Bourg, La.
3B	Kevin Miller	Sam Houston State	Jr.	Pearland, Texas
SS	Hunter Dozier	Stephen F. Austin	So.	Denton, Texas
C	Travis Snider	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Alvin, Texas
OF	Preston Beck	UT Arlington	Jr.	Dallas, Texas
OF	Jeff McVaney3	Texas State	Sr.	Houston, Texas
OF	Seth Granger2	McNeese State	Sr.	Iowa, La.
DH	Anthony Azar	Sam Houston State	So.	The Woodlands, Texas
P	Daniel Minor	A&M-Corpus Christi	Jr.	Dripping Springs, Texas
P	Travis Ballew	Texas State	Jr.	Rockwall, Texas
P	Stefan Lopez	Southeastern La.	Jr.	New Iberia, La.
Second Team
1B	Bryan Willson	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Camarillo, Calif.
2B	Philip Lyons	Nicholls State	So.	Thibodaux, La.
3B	Ryan Dalton2	UTSA	Jr.	Sugar Land, Texas
SS	Ryan Walker	UT Arlington	So.	Arlington, Texas
C	Andrew Stumph2	Texas State	Jr.	Katy, Texas
OF	Forrestt Allday	Central Arkansas	Jr.	Friendswood, Texas
OF	Jonathan Davis2	Central Arkansas	Sr.	Camden, Ark.
OF	Will Watson	Northwestern State	Jr.	Dallas, Texas
DH	Jeremy Hill2	Nicholls State	Sr.	Long Beach, Miss.
P	Caleb Smith	Sam Houston State	So.	Huntsville, Texas
P	Lance Day	UT Arlington	Sr.	Snyder, Texas
P	Colton Turner	Texas State	Jr.	Joshua, Texas
Third Team
1B	Casey Kalenkosky2	Texas State	Sr.	San Antonio, Texas
2B	Freddy Villalobos	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Houston, Texas
3B	Darian Johnson	Lamar	Jr.	Chandler, Ariz.
SS	R.J. Perucki	UTSA	So.	Tomball, Texas
C	Jarid Scarafiotti2	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	Shreveport, La.
OF	Jake Arrington	Sam Houston State	Sr.	Gunter, Texas
OF	Cody Gougler	Southeastern La.	Sr.	Huntsville, Texas
OF	Drew Helenihi	Northwestern State	Sr.	Livermore, Calif.
DH	Jonathan Gonzales	A&M-Corpus Christi	Jr.	Buda, Texas
P	Alex Moshier	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	Beaumont, Texas
P	Joe Scanio	Northwestern State	Sr.	St. Louis, Mo.
P	Michael Oros	Sam Houston State	Sr.	Kingwood, Texas

 
² indicates two-time all-conference selection;
³ indicates three-time all-conference selection.
 
Honorable Mention – First Base: Casey Selsor, UTSA; Brad Picha, Lamar. Second Base: Michael Guerra, UT Arlington. Third Base: Nick Hinojos, Northwestern State. Shortstop: Drew Vest, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Outfield: Preston Morrow, UT Arlington; Colt Atwood, Sam Houston State; Jordan Lee, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; Harry Slade, Southeastern Louisiana; Ethan Harris, Central Arkansas; Luke Plucheck, Sam Houston State; Daniel Rockett, UTSA. Designated Hitter: Seth Dornak, Lamar. Pitchers: Mason Melotakis, Northwestern State; Andro Cutura, Southeastern Louisiana; Dylan Hills, Southeastern Louisiana; Blake Ware, McNeese State; Justin Jackson, Sam Houston State; Phillip Garcia, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
Individual Superlative Award Winners

Player of the Year:	Brock Hebert, Southeastern Louisiana
Hitter of the Year:	Brock Hebert, Southeastern Louisiana
Pitcher of the Year:	Travis Ballew, Texas State
Relief Pitcher of the Year:	Stefan Lopez, Southeastern Louisiana
Freshman of the Year:	Andro Cutura, Southeastern Louisiana
Newcomer of the Year:	Daniel Minor, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Coach of the Year:	David Pierce, Sam Houston State