FRISCO, Texas - Nicholls State University senior first baseman Edgar Alvarez continued his historic season by becoming the first Colonel in program history to be named Southland Player of the Year, as the league office announced Tuesday its 2024 Baseball All-Southland Teams and awards.

In addition to his POY honor, Alvarez repeated as All-Southland First Team and All-Defensive. He was joined on the first team by senior pitcher Nico Saltaformaggio, who garnered Relief Pitcher of the Year. Saltaformaggio is the second Colonel to earn the award, joining Stuart Holmes who won it in 2015.

Along with the first-team duo, three Colonels were named All-Southland Second Team. Senior shortstop Parker Coddou received All-SLC honors for the third time in his career, while senior outfielder Basiel Williams and junior utility player Drake Anderson rounded out the honorees. 

A native of Orlando, Florida, Alvarez was named All-SLC for the third time in as many seasons after putting together one of the best offensive performances in the nation. He racked up a league-leading 85 hits for a .417 batting average, which ranked eighth in the NCAA. Alvarez had a hit in all but five games this season, posted a 21-game hitting streak, and reached base safely in all 52 games. He totaled 10 games with three or more hits, highlighted by a four-hit outing in the home matchup against Tulane.

A semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, which is given to the top collegiate baseball player, Alvarez led the Southland with a school-record 66 runs scored. He also led the SLC with a .518 on-base percentage and ranked third in RBI (59) and walks (46), fourth in doubles (19), and fifth in home runs (11). 

Alvarez was also a standout defensively, recording just one throwing error in a league-high 466 chances for a .998 fielding percentage. It marked the second straight campaign that he did not have a fielding error. 

A native of Destrehan, Saltaformaggio was a two-time Southland Pitcher of the Week, earning the awards in back-to-back weeks in May. He was one of seven pitchers in the SLC with at least six victories, going 6-4 with two saves and a 4.04 ERA. His ERA was seventh-best in the Southland and his .264 opponent batting average ranked 11th in the league. He clinched the series win over league champion Lamar after tossing six shutout innings out of the bullpen. Saltaformaggio's season-high of eight strikeouts came in 7.1 innings of relief in a win at UIW. He also notched both of his saves in league play against HCU and McNeese.

Coddou batted .295 with 34 RBI at the leadoff spot in his final campaign and ranked fourth in the Southland in runs scored (59), sixth in doubles (16) and triples (3), eighth in walks (33) and 10th in hits (66). The Thibodaux native registered 17 multi-hit games including a pair of four-hit contests. Coddou led the SLC with eight sacrifice flies which ranked eighth in the NCAA.

A native of Hammond, Louisiana, Williams started in center and right field, piecing together a career year with 50 hits for a .311 average. He totaled nine doubles and six home runs on the season and tied for 11th in the SLC with 42 RBI. Williams also totaled 17 multi-hit games and ended the regular season with a 10-game hitting streak.

In his debut season for the Colonels, Anderson played at second and third base, batting .297 with 43 hits, seven doubles and three home runs. The Puyallup, Washington native ranked seventh in the Southland with 12 stolen bases while also adding 30 runs scored and 28 RBI. Anderson had a 5-for-5 outing in the win over Northwestern State and hit a walk-off home run against league-champion Lamar.

The awards are announced ahead of the 2024 Southland Conference Baseball Championship, which will be played Tuesday-Saturday, May 22-25 in Hammond, La., at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University.
 

Player of the Year: Edgar Alvarez, Nicholls
Hitter of the Year: Mitchell Sanford, New Orleans
Pitcher of the Year: Brooks Caple, Lamar
Relief Pitcher of the Year: Nico Saltaformaggio, Nicholls
Freshman of the Year: Larson Fabre, Southeastern
Newcomer of the Year: Dalton Beck, UIW
Clay Gould Coach of the Year: Will Davis, Lamar

2024 All-Southland Conference First Team

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
C	Miguel Useche	New Orleans	Sr.	Caracas, Venezuela
1B	Edgar Alvarez	Nicholls	Sr.	Orlando, Fla.
2B	Isaac Webb	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	R-Jr.	Collinsville, Okla.
SS	TJ Salvaggio	Southeastern	Jr.	Slidell, La.
3B	Shea Thomas	Southeastern	Sr.	Olympia, Wash.
OF	Mitchell Sanford	New Orleans	R-Jr.	Berwick, La.
OF	Samuel Benjamin	HCU	Sr.	Katy, Texas
OF	Cooper Hext	McNeese	Sr.	DeQuincy, La.
DH	Dalton Beck	UIW	Jr.	Frisco, Texas
UT	Bryce Calloway	New Orleans	Jr.	New Orleans, La.
SP	Brooks Caple	Lamar	Sr.	Gunter, Texas
SP	Colton Mercer	New Orleans	Jr.	Sneads, Fla.
SP	Brennan Stuprich	Southeastern	R-Jr.	Kenner, La.
RP	Nico Saltaformaggio	Nicholls	Sr.	Destrehan, La.

 
2024 All-Southland Conference Second Team

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
C	Zak Skinner	Lamar	Jr.	Melbourne, Australia
1B	Brayden Evans	Lamar	Jr.	Pearland, Texas
2B	Diego Villescas	New Orleans	Jr.	Pharr, Texas
SS	Parker Coddou	Nicholls	Sr.	Thibodaux, La.
3B	Sebastian Trinidad	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Sr.	Ponce, Puerto Rico
OF	Reese Lipoma	Northwestern State	Jr.	Gonzales, La.
OF	Basiel Williams	Nicholls	R-Sr.	Hammond, La.
OF	Cameron Caley	UIW	Sr.	The Woodlands, Texas
DH	River Orsak	Lamar	Sr.	Mount Belview, Texas
UT	Drake Anderson	Nicholls	Jr.	Puyallup, Wash.
SP	Matthew Watson	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	R-Jr.	Rogers, Ark.
SP	Jacob Ellis	Lamar	Sr.	Edmond, Okla.
SP	Hunter Hesseltine	Lamar	Jr..	Topeka, Kan.
RP	Caleb Bunch	Northwestern State	Jr.	Keller, Texas

2024 Southland Conference All-Defensive Team

Pos.	Name	School	Class	Hometown
C	Miguel Useche	New Orleans	Sr.	Caracas, Venezuela
1B	Edgar Alvarez	Nicholls	Sr.	Orlando, Fla.
2B	Dalton Hurst	New Orleans	Jr.	Port Orange, Fla.
SS	Kanin Dodge	Lamar	Sr.	Carencro, La.
3B	Rocco Gump	Northwestern State	Jr.	Chandler, Ariz.
LF	Cooper Hext	McNeese	Sr.	DeQuincy, La.
CF	Conner Westenburg	McNeese	Jr.	Porter, Texas
RF	Mitchell Sanford	New Orleans	R-Jr.	Berwick, La.
P	Cameron LeJeune	McNeese	R-Jr.	Sulphur, La.