VMI baseball’s Tharp, Winder earn All-SoCon honors

The Southern Conference coaches and SoCon Sports Media Association announced their all-conference baseball teams Monday, and VMI’s Tyler Tharp and Josh Winder were honored. Tharp earned First Team All-SoCon honors in the outfield from both groups, and Winder earned Second Team All-SoCon honors from both in the starting pitching category.

Tharp finished the regular season leading the conference in slugging percentage, and on pace to become only the second Keydet since 2007 to enter the school’s all-time top-10 in that category. He is also in the top-10 in batting average (eighth) and on-base percentage (sixth), making him one of just two players in the conference to do so, along with consensus player of the year Bryson Bowman of Western Carolina. Tharp, of course, hit three home runs in a May game against UNCG, making him the first Keydet in 21 years to do so, and he enters the SoCon Tournament three total bases shy of setting a new school record in that statistic.

Winder, meanwhile, is VMI’s scheduled pitcher in Tuesday’s first round game. He is the first Keydet starting pitcher to earn All-Conference honors from the SoCon since 1990, and is just one out shy of becoming the first Keydet to ever reach 100 innings pitched in a season. He has already set a new school record in that statistic and moved into third all-time in single season strikeouts.

VMI and The Citadel will play in the opening round, single-elimination game to start the SoCon Championship on Tuesdaymorning at 10 a.m.