By Staff
Special to The Star
May 11, 2001
LIVINGSTON, Ala. The culmination of the West Alabama baseball season came Thursday, when the All-Gulf South Conference teams were released. The Tigers landed three members on the first team East Division squad.
Headlining the All-GSC Tiger performers was standout shortstop Michael Friedlein. After sitting out the first five games of the season with an injured foot, the senior from St. Louis came on to lead the Tigers in average, hitting at an amazing clip of .425, fifth best in the GSC. He also led the team in doubles with 17, pitched in two homers and totaled 33 RBI's. Friedlein committed only 10 errors in 45 games.
First-year Tiger third baseman Scott Merkich also posted lofty offensive numbers.
Merkich, a native of Clinton, transferred to UWA from Meridian Community College and immediately added pop to a potent Tiger lineup from the cleanup spot. The former Eagle was second on the team in batting, finishing the season with a .411 average.
He paced the squad in hits with 78, home runs with 12, and RBI's with 54. Merkich also led the team in slugging percentage (.679), totaling 26 extra base hits on the year.
Rounding out the All-GSC performers for West Alabama was Matt Moyer. The transfer from Shelton State Community College led the club in wins with five, and had the best ERA (3.74). Moyer came on late in the season to pick up crucial conference wins against Valdosta State, North Alabama, Lincoln Memorial and West Florida. He allowed 18 earned runs in 431/3 innings of work and struck out 37 opposing batters.