Miles wrapped up a solid regular season with four players being named to the All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball team, which was released today by the league office. Nick Copen, Camden Matthews, Trey Rutledge, and Brandon Leroy garnered five First Team selections, which was voted on by the conference's head coaches and media relations professionals. It is the most First Team selections the Golden Bears have had since placing five on the top team in 2018.

In addition to their First Team honors, Copen was named Utility Player of the Year and Matthews was picked as the conference's Relief Pitcher of the Year.

Copen, a junior from Northport, Ala., was named All-Conference as a first baseman and a starting pitcher, the first Golden Bear to earn two First Team spots on the same All-SIAC squad. He is also the first Milean to earn Utility Player of the Year honors since Reeves Brashear in 2018. Playing first base, third base and designated hitter, Copen was a marvel at the plate. He is slashing .414/.500/.596 with 10 doubles, a triple, two home runs and 29 runs batted in (RBI). He is currently fourth in the SIAC in batting average and seventh in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). As a pitcher, he is 5-4 with a 4.82 earned run average (ERA). He is in the top-10 in the conference in wins, ERA, innings pitched (61 1/3) and opponents batting average (.255).

Matthews, a junior from Scottsboro, Ga., joins Copen as a player to earn two spots on the team, as he was selected as the utility player and relief pitcher to go along with his Relief Pitcher of the Year award, joining Logan Watts (2023) and Will Canty (2019) as Golden Bears to earn the honor in the past 10 years. He has pitched exclusively in relief this season, going 3-1 with a 4.34 ERA and league-leading five saves in 22 appearances. He has 34 strikeouts in 29 appearances and opponents are hitting just .246 against him. His numbers in conference play was spectacular, going 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA and four saves, striking out 28 hitters in 23 innings. As a hitter who played first base, third base and served as a designated hitter, he is hitting .300/.374/.400 with a home run and 32 RBI.

Rutledge, a redshirt sophomore outfielder from Irondale, Ala., earns his first First Team selection after grabbing  Second Team All-Conference honors and the SIAC Freshman of the Year award in 2023. He is currently hitting .351/.522/.515, leading Miles in runs scored (59), on base percentage, home runs (4) and RBI (33) while second in stolen bases (31). He is top-10 in the SIAC in runs scored, stolen bases, walks (33), hit by pitches (17) and on-base percentage.

Leroy, a junior from Eufaula, Ala., was chosen as the First Team catcher for the second consecutive season and continues the lineage as he and former Golden Bear Jacob Bisharat have been the only First Team catchers in the SIAC dating back to 2018. This season, Leroy is hitting .318/.425/,477 with a team-high 12 doubles, three home runs, 32 RBI and a career-high eight stolen bases. Behind the plate, he has thrown out 46 percent of the runners attempting to swipe a base.

This quartet will lead the fifth-seeded Golden Bears into the SIAC Tournament beginning Thursday againstt No. 4 seed Savannah State. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.