Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State left-handed pitcher Caden Favors was selected to the American Athletic Conference preseason all-conference team, the league announced Thursday.
Wichita State is picked seventh in the 10-team preseason coaches poll. Defending champion East Carolina tops the poll, garnering a first-place vote from the other nine conference members.
Favors is coming off a season in which he handled nearly every role on the Wichita State pitching staff, from starter to long reliever to closer. The southpaw finished the year 3-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 21 appearances, three of which were starts. He worked 42.1 innings, striking out 37 while issuing 15 walks, and held opponents to a .261 batting average.
The senior delivered several of Wichita State's best relief outings of the season, including 4.0 scoreless innings at Long Beach State (February 17), 4.2 shutout innings at Utah Tech (February 24), 3.0 hitless, scoreless innings with five strikeouts to earn the save at Cincinnati (March 31) and 4.0 spotless innings at UCF (May 20). As a starter, Favors fired perhaps the finest outing of his career against Oklahoma on March 14, holding the Sooners off the board for a career-best 5.0 innings to earn the win.
For his career, Favors owns a 3.38 ERA in 93.1 innings pitched, logging a 5-5 record with one save.
East Carolina leads the conference with six preseason All-AAC selections, including the preseason Pitcher of the Year in Trey Yesavage. South Florida has five representatives; no other school has more than one.
2024 American Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll (First-place votes in parentheses)
East Carolina (9) -- 81
Charlotte -- 67
UTSA -- 64
Florida Atlantic -- 54
South Florida (1) -- 47
Memphis -- 35
Wichita State -- 34
Rice -- 29
Tulane -- 25
UAB -- 14
Preseason Player of the Year
Teo Banks, Jr., OF, Tulane
Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Trey Yesavage, Jr., East Carolina
Preseason All-Conference
P – Trey Yesavage, Jr., East Carolina*
P – Parker Smith, Jr., Rice
P – Jack Cebert, Jr., South Florida
P – Cameron Hansen, Sr., Charlotte
P – Zach Root, So., East Carolina
P – Caden Favors, Sr., Wichita State
RP – Danny Beal, Sr., East Carolina
C – Justin Wilcoxen, Sr., East Carolina
1B – Carter Cunningham, Sr., East Carolina
2B – Bobby Boser, Jr., South Florida
SS – Eric Snow, So., South Florida
3B – Matt King, Jr., UTSAOF – Teo Banks, Jr., Tulane
OF – Jacob Jenkins-Cowart, Jr., East Carolina
OF – Drew Brutcher, Sr., South Florida
DH – Ben Rozenblum, R-Sr., South Florida
* denotes unanimous selection