MARSHALL, Texas – Dominating the American Southwest Conference in baseball and being one of the top pitchers in the nation,
Sayers Collins (Sr., Frisco, Texas) was unanimously voted the Male Athlete of the Year. He is the third ETBU student-athlete and baseball player to earn the award in the last seven years. ETBU also produced the ASC Female Athlete of the Year in Tristen Maddox and is the first ASC school to sweep the award since McMurry University did in the first year of the award in 1999-2000.
Collins joins the ranks of Conner Combs (2015-16) and Casey Combs (2018-19) as the only ETBU winners for the ASC Male Athlete of the Year. The award is voted on the ASC sports information directors. ETBU and Mary Hardin-Baylor have combined to win the last seven ASC Male Athlete of the Year awards.
"I am extremely proud of Sayers and everything that he has been able to accomplish during his time at ETBU," says ETBU head baseball coach
Jared Hood. "His hard work and dedication led to the success he has seen and will continue to have. I can't wait to see what else is in store for Sayers."
All-American for the second year in a row, Collins was named to the ABCA All-American First Team and to the D3baseball.com All-American Second Team while also being the ABCA Region 10 Pitcher of the Year. For the third year in a row, he was an All-Region selection with the last two years on the First Team for ABCA and D3baseball.com.
He dominated the ASC on the mound being named the Pitcher of the Year for the second year in a row breaking his own single season ETBU and ASC record for strikeouts in a year (135). This year also brought another ASC record in career weekly awards with 10 earning five this year to break TLU's Brad Orosey's record of nine set from 2009-2012. Collins also tied the ASC record for wins in a season at 12.
In four games this season, he had at least 10 strikeouts including a 2023 NCAA Division III World Series best 13 strikeouts against No. 2 Salisbury upsetting the Sea Gulls, 7-3, coming back to pitcher after an almost two-hour rain-delay. In the Marshall, Texas, Regional Tournament, he went 6.2 innings in the first meeting with Trinity recording six strikeouts and allowing two earned runs sending ETBU to the regional championship game.
Collins helped ETBU to a program best 42 wins as the Tigers won their first-ever ASC Tournament, NCAA Marshall, Regional Tournament, and Super Regional Tournament championships this year. They have also won back-to-back ASC regular season championships. They finished tied for third in NCAA Division III going 2-2 at the World Series with two upset wins over #2 Salisbury University. For the first time, also, they were consistently ranked in the Collegiate Baseball News Top 25 reaching as high 14th in the regular season and earning the no. 1 seed in Region 10 for the NCAA Tournament. They finished the year ranked fifth in the D3baseball.com poll and sixth in the ABCA poll.
He now holds the ETBU career record for strikeouts (329), single season record for strikeouts (135), and career wins (29).
ASC Dual School Winners
1999-2000 : Brad Parris (McM), Ognna Merritt (McM)
2022-2023 :
Sayers Collins (ETBU), Tristen Maddox (ETBU)
ASC Male Award Winners – By the Numbers
UMHB - 11
McM - 4
ETBU – 3
Texas Dallas – 1
Concordia Texas – 1
Louisiana College - 1
Austin College – 1
