Incoming Pacer Picks Up Summer League Awards

Bellantoni Summer League Profile

DELAND, Fla. – Incoming USC Aiken baseball transfer Stephen Bellantoni enjoyed quite a productive summer in the Florida Collegiate Summer League.

Playing for the DeLand Suns, Bellantoni was the stolen base leader in the Florida League, swiping 24 bases in 36 regular season games.

Joining the Pacers in the upcoming year out of Lake Sumter Community College, Bellantoni on July 16 at the Florida League All-Star game claimed Most Valuable Player accolades. Bellantoni was 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base in the All-Star game.

The Oviedo, Fla. native hit .322 with 39 runs scored and 23 RBIs last year at Lake Sumter. He had 15 stolen bases.

USC Aiken head baseball coach Kenny Thomas is looking forward to having Bellantoni on his roster.

“Stephen can absolutely fly,” said Thomas. “He is an outfielder who is a great defensive player. This is important because he can flat out cover some ground in the outfield. We feel like we have a very good player in Stephen Bellantoni.” 

2010 Florida League Award Winners

The nominations have been given and the votes have now been tallied for the 2010 Florida League Award Winners. Below are the 2010 Award Winners:

League Awards

MVP: LB Dantzler (State College of Florida)

Cy Young: Bobby Bolling (Radford)

Outstanding Relief Pitcher: Spencer Medick (Hampden-Sydney)

Outstanding Pro Prospect: Brandon Thomas (Georgia Tech)

Batting Champion: Sam Kimmel- .378 (Indian River State)

Stolen Base Leader: Stephen Bellantoni - 24 (USC Aiken)

Strikeouts Leader: Steven Starbird- 42 (Lincoln Memorial)

David Eckstein Sportsmanship Award: Joseph Munoz (Bethune-Cookman)

Championship Game MVP: Nick Goody (State College of Florida)

Home Run Derby Champion: Dexter Kelley (Savannah State)

All Star Game MVP: Stephen Bellantoni (USC Aiken)

Coach of the Year: Clint Chrysler (Diamond Dawgs)