Monday February 6, 2012

OMAHA, Neb. – University of South Carolina Aiken baseball seniors Nick Aranas and Stephen Carmon have been tabbed to the 2012 Tino Martinez Award Watch List.

The Tino Martinez Award is given at the conclusion of the baseball season to the most outstanding player in NCAA Division II College Baseball. The annual honor is named after the former University of Tampa Spartan, Olympian and Major League Baseball All-Star, Tino Martinez.

A 2012 First-Team National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason All-American, Aranas was also named to the 2011 Tino Martinez Award Watch List before missing the entire 2011 campaign due to injury.

A 2012 Preseason All-Peach Belt Conference Selection, Aranas opened the 2012 season for the Pacers by hitting .364 (4-for-11) with four RBIs and three runs scored in USC Aiken’s three-game sweep of Lincoln Memorial at Roberto Hernandez Stadium this past weekend.

Aranas ended his junior season by being named to the 2010 NCAA Division II Daktronics All-America Baseball First-Team as a designated hitter. Aranas finished the 2010 season leading the Pacers with a .415 (83-for-200) batting average. The batting average was the third-best in the Peach Belt Conference in 2010. In total, the Lexington, S.C. native finished the 2010 season in the top 15 in the PBC in six different categories.

Carmon was selected to the 2012 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Preseason All-America Team.

The Pacer shortstop opened his 2012 season for USC Aiken by being named the South Carolina Education Lottery USC Aiken Athletic Department Student-Athlete of the Week on Monday, Feb. 6. Carmon concluded USC Aiken’s three-game sweep of Lincoln Memorial with a .500 batting average (6-for-12). The Camden, S.C. native claimed a team-best six runs scored in the first three games of the season for the Pacers. Carmon collected four RBIs over the course of the three games.