Charlotte, N.C. – Winthrop redshirt senior outfielder
Koby Kropf was named the Big South Preseason Baseball Player of the Year and sophomore right-handed pitcher
Owen Sarna was named to the Big South Conference Preseason All-Conference Team, announced by the league office Wednesday afternoon.
Kropf is the first Winthrop baseball player to earn Preseason Player of the Year honors since 2007 and the third time overall. Last season at USC Upstate, he earned Second-Team All-Big South honors and was a back-to-back Player of the Week honoree (April 22 and April 29).
"Koby is very deserving of this pre-season recognition, he had a monster year last year in which he led the Big South in HR's and was among league leaders in most offensive categories," Winthrop head coach
Mike McGuire said.
Kropf started all 60 games for the Spartans in 2024, and became just the third player in Big South history with 20 doubles (21) and 20 home runs (20) in a season. He hit .352 overall with 20 homers, 67 runs batted in, a .704 slugging clip, 81 hits and 56 runs scored. Kropf also drew 29 walks and five hit-by-pitch and finished with a .431 on-base percentage. Kropf recorded a career-high five hits versus Presbyterian on April 27, collected a career-high five RBI versus Queens on April 16, and recorded 25 multi-hit and 19 multi-RBI games a season ago.
In Big South contests, Kropf batted .363 with eight home runs, 28 RBI, a .714 slugging average and .463 on-base clip. He received six first-place votes and 20 points in the preseason voting, ahead of Charleston Southern's Chandler Tuupo (two first-place votes and 13 points) and High Point's Konni Durschlag (nine points).
"I've had the fortune of coaching him the last two years and have seen firsthand that he brings so much more to the table as a player in addition to his bat. He is a very good outfielder that works extremely hard at his craft, is a great competitor," says McGuire.
Sarna is coming off a freshman campaign in which he was named to the 2024 Big South Conference All-Freshman Team. He finished 9th in the Big South in overall pitching with an ERA of 4.74. His most notable performances last season were pitching a season-high 6.0 innings vs. Longwood on Mar. 17 and a season-high six strikeouts vs. Maine on Mar. 3.
Sarna ended 2024 having pitched 49.1 innings with a record of 4-4 in 13 games played. He was 2nd on the team in ERA and wins with four. He started nine games, striking out 38 batters, which was good for 4th on the team.
The preseason poll was also released today. The Eagles finished sixth in the voting for the preseason poll.
"I'm surprised we were picked there. The returning players I have in this program have worked hard and are vastly improved," McGuire said. "We had a good summer recruiting and added 25 new players to the program this fall, many of which will make major impacts. To be perfectly honest I think the players like myself are a little insulted by this. Time will tell and the beauty of it is we get to play the games on the field."
High Point is predicted to win the 2025 Big South title, garnering four first-place votes while USC Upstate is projected to finish second with two first-place votes. Gardner-Webb (with one first-place vote) was third in the poll, followed by Presbyterian, Charleston Southern, Winthrop (one first-place vote), UNC Asheville, Radford (one first-place vote) and Longwood.
The top six teams in the final conference standings will advance to the Big South Baseball Championship, which will be held May 21-24 at Truist Point in High Point, N.C. The champion receives the Big South's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2025 BIG SOUTH BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (4) |
76 |
| 2 - USC Upstate (2) |
64 |
| 3 - Gardner-Webb (1) |
50 |
| 4 - Presbyterian |
47 |
| 5 - Charleston Southern |
46 |
| 6 - Winthrop (1) |
43 |
| 7 - UNC Asheville |
37 |
| 8 - Radford (1) |
25 |
| 9 - Longwood |
17 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving nine points, followed by eight points for second-place, and so on.
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
OF –
Koby Kropf, R-Sr., Winthrop
OF – Konni Durschlag, Sr., High Point
OF – Lawson Knight, Sr., Gardner-Webb
OF – Nick Capozzi, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb
INF – Chandler Tuupo, Jr., Charleston Southern
INF – Vance Sheahan, Soph., USC Upstate
INF – Brayden Simpson, Jr., High Point
INF – Hunter Keen, Sr., Radford
INF – Trey Fenderson, Jr., Presbyterian
C – Jackson Hugus, Sr., Presbyterian
DH – Jake Randolph, Jr., Presbyterian
UTL – Miggy Echazarreta, Sr., High Point
SP – Colby Guy, Jr., UNC Asheville
SP –
Owen Sarna, Soph., Winthrop
SP – Drew Stanley, Sr., Radford
SP – Nick Timpanelli, R-Jr., Charleston Southern
RP – Cooper Ellingworth, Soph., USC Upstate
RP – Sean Hollister, Sr., Presbyterian
RP – Devin Pressley, R-Jr., Gardner-Webb (tie)
RP – Braden Consaul, Jr., USC Upstate (tie)
PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Koby Kropf, OF, R-Sr., Winthrop
PRESEASON PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Colby Guy, SP, Jr., UNC Asheville
