May 15, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina junior catcher Grayson Greiner is one of 15 semifinalists for the 2014 Johnny Bench Award presented by BaseballSavings.com to the top college catcher in the country as announced on Thursday, May 15 by the Wichita Sports Commission. Ballots will be sent to the national voting panel at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 3, 2014. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced at the 17th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 26, 2014.
Greiner was named the 2013-14 USC Co-Male Student-Athlete of the Year alongside Gamecock football/basketball standout Bruce Ellington. Greiner has been recognized in the baseball circles as well as he is on USA Baseball’s Midseason Watch List for the Golden Spikes Award.
Greiner continues to lead the Gamecocks in hitting with a .344 average (62-for-180) with 37 runs scored, a team-high 11 doubles and eight homers as well as 49 RBI, third highest in the SEC. His .344 average is fifth-best in the SEC. He also has a team-best .414 on-base percentage and a .539 slugging mark. Greiner owns an identical .347 average (35-for-101) in league games with four homers and 23 RBI vs. SEC teams. Greiner is also riding a 11-game hitting streak.
Greiner was named SEC Player of the Week on March 31 after his play in the Tennessee series. Greiner hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning to lift South Carolina to a 9-6 win over Tennessee His play along with Jordan Gore’s walk-off homer was No. 1 on ESPN’s SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Day.
Greiner won the Tom Price award as the MVP for South Carolina in the weekend series vs. Clemson. Greiner hit .400 (4-for-10) for the weekend with four runs scored. His grand slam homer helped lift South Carolina to a 9-6 win. He had a team-high four walks on the weekend as well.
The Johnny Bench Award semifinalists are (in alphabetical order):
• Will Allen, University of Mississippi
• Brett Austin, North Carolina State University
• Anthony Azar, Sam Houston State University
• Aramis Garcia, Florida International University
• Grayson Greiner University of South Carolina
• Taylor Gushue, University of Florida
• Sean Hagen, Eastern Kentucky University
• Mike Hollenbeck, Illinois State University
• Sean McHugh, Purdue University
• Brian O’Keefe, Saint Joseph’s University
• Max Pentecost, Kennesaw State University
• Alex Real, University of New Mexico
• Kyle Schwarber, Indiana University
• Mark Zagunis, Virginia Tech
• Shane Zeile, UCLA
