• 2024 All-OVC Baseball Teams and Award Winners (PDF)
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - Morehead State senior first baseman
Roman Kuntz was named the 2024 OVC Player of the Year while Little Rock's
Jacob Weatherley was tabbed OVC Pitcher of the Year and his coach
Chris Curry earned OVC Coach of the Year honors in a vote of league head coaches and communication directors. In addition, Southern Indiana hurler
Grant Parson was named OVC Freshman of the Year.
The honors, along with first and second-team All-OVC and All-Freshman honors were announced ahead of the 2024 OVC Baseball Championship presented by SERVPRO which begins on Wednesday at Mtn Dew Park in Marion, Illinois. There will be an on-field presentation, sponsored by FieldTurf, on Wednesday evening.
Morehead State had the most first-team selections with four and tied with Tennessee Tech for the most selections (7) across the three teams. Little Rock had three first-team picks.
Kuntz had a magical season in setting OVC single-season records for home runs (31) and RBI (92). He enters the postseason ranked second nationally in both of those categories, just four home runs and one RBI behind the leader. Nationally he also ranks third in total bases (186) and fourth in slugging (.861). He led the OVC in home runs, RBI, total bases (3.38/game) and slugging, was third in runs scored (1.2/game), fourth in on-base percentage (.463) and fifth in batting (.361). In 27 OVC games he hit .427 with 44 hits, 36 runs, 18 home runs, 51 RBI and a 1.029 slugging percentage. Kuntz also led the OVC with 24 multi-RBI games, was fifth in multi-hit games (23) and enters the postseason with a 10-game hitting streak. He drove in seven runs, thanks in part to a grand slam, against SIUE on May 16, the game he set the OVC single-season RBI mark; that marked one of five games this season where he had five or more RBI. He also had five games where he hit two home runs this year. He was named National Hitter of the Week on March 20 after hitting .455 with 10 runs scored, five home runs, 14 RBI and a 1.227 slugging percentage in five games. Kuntz is the second-straight and 11th overall Morehead State player to be named OVC Player of the Year.
After leading Little Rock to a second-place finish in its inaugural season in the OVC last season, Little Rock's Curry, who is in his 10th season with the program, did one better in 2024, guiding the Trojans to an 18-9 league mark and OVC Regular Season Championship. It marked the first Conference Championship in any league for the Little Rock program. The team closed the regular season strong, winning its final seven (and nine of its final 10) Conference games. Overall the team won eight of nine Conference series. Little Rock enters the postseason with 32 overall victories, giving the team back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time in program history. The team ranked first in the OVC in opponent batting average (.257), batters struck out (507) and saves (14).
Weatherley led the OVC in E.R.A. (2.85), saves (9) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.25), and ranked fourth in wins (6) despite not starting a game. Overall the senior appeared in 23 games out of the bullpen, and in all but four appearances he pitched more than one inning, including a season-long 7.2 innings against Eastern Illinois and 5.0 innings against UT Martin. Weatherley also ranked third in the OVC opponent batting average (.241) and 12 times this season he did not allow a run during his appearance. The righty had a season-high six strikeouts on three occasions (Illinois State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Eastern Illinois). In 12 appearances during OVC play, Weatherley was 4-1 with six saves and a 2.66 E.R.A. He struck out 46 in just 40.2 innings of work. He is the second-straight Little Rock pitcher to win the award, joining teammate Jackson Wells who won it in 2023.
Parson, who also earned second-team All-OVC honors, led Southern Indiana in E.R.A. (3.90) this season over 11 starts; that mark was fourth in the OVC. Parson led the OVC in opponent batting average (.215) and was sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (9.0). The freshman compiled a 4-3 record and pitched 60.0 innings, striking out 60 total batters. Parson went seven innings in four of his last five starts and helped shutout Illinois for six innings before getting a no-decision during a March contest. He is the first Southern Indiana pitcher to earn the award.
2024 All-OVC Teams and Award Winners
OVC Player of the Year: Roman Kuntz (1B), Morehead State
OVC Pitcher of the Year: Jacob Weatherley, Little Rock
OVC Freshman of the Year: Grant Parson (RHP), Southern Indiana
OVC Coach of the Year: Chris Curry, Little Rock
ALL-OVC FIRST TEAM
C - Hayden Gilliland, Tennessee Tech
1B - Roman Kuntz, Morehead State
2B - Nick Gooden, Morehead State
SS - Colton Becker, Morehead State
3B - Nico Baumbach, Little Rock
OF - Ryley Preece, Morehead State
OF - Josh Cameron, Southeast Missouri
OF - Lucas Spence, SIUE
DH - J.R. Heavilin, Western Illinois
UT - Lucas Loos, Eastern Illinois
SP - Tristan Walton, UT Martin
SP - Hoss Brewer, Little Rock
SP - Peyton Calitri, Tennessee Tech
RP - Jacob Weatherley, Little Rock
RP - Kyle Miller, Southeast Missouri
ALL-OVC SECOND TEAM
C - Jake Wright, Little Rock
1B - Preston Ford, Tennessee Tech
2B - Brooks Kettering, Southeast Missouri
SS - Ben Palmer, Southeast Missouri
3B - Mac Danford, UT Martin
OF - Luke Pectol, Little Rock
OF - Ren Tachioka, Southern Indiana
OF - Will Smith, UT Martin
DH - Tucker Ebest, Southern Indiana
UT - Ty Stauss, Southeast Missouri
UT - Dawson Hokuf, Lindenwood
SP - Luke Helton, Morehead State
SP - Gavin Seebold, Southern Indiana
SP - Grant Parson, Southern Indiana
RP - Caden Kratz, Western Illinois
RP - Tucker Reed, UT Martin
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
RHP - Bryce Riggs, Eastern Illinois
OF - Hayden Robbins, Morehead State
OF - Davis Germann, Morehead State
2B - Brooks Kettering, Southeast Missouri
3B - Ryan Niedzwiedz, SIUE
OF - Daniel Gierer, SIUE
RHP - Joseph Martin, SIUE
RHP - Clayton Weisheit, Southern Indiana
RHP - Grant Parson, Southern Indiana
DH - Mack Whitcomb, Tennessee Tech
RHP - Drew Mattox, Tennessee Tech
RHP - Jack Brafa, Tennessee Tech
RHP - Juan Vargas, Tennessee Tech
Note: There are 2 UTIL on the second-team due to ties in voting.