WILL CATES OF SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY was named SCAC Baseball Player of the Year for his performance in the 2015 season.

Cates, a junior outfielder from Cy Fair, Texas, is currently leading the SCAC in batting average (.405), hits (64), triples (eight), total bases (104), slugging percentage (.658), runs scored (48) and stolen bases (29). He is also in the top 10 in the league in doubles (9 – seventh), home runs (5 – third), runs batted in (36 – third) and on-base percentage (.438 – fifth). A two-time SCAC Player-of-the-Week during the 2015 regular season, Cates has had 20 multiple-hit games in 20 of the 37 contests he has competed including an extraordinary seven game stretch in mid-May when he went 18 for 32 (.563) with nine RBIs, eight stolen bases and 15 runs scored. The highlight of that stretch was Cates' 4-for-5, three RBI and three runs scored performance that led the Pirates to a 13-7 victory over the then second-ranked team in the nation – St. Thomas (Minn.).

With the honor, Cates becomes the first student-athlete from Southwestern to be named the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Year since former three-time all-American Matt Gelotti earned the distinction in back-to-back years (1999-2000). Cates received four votes in the Player-of-the-Year balloting while junior outfielder Jeremy Wolf of Trinity received two votes. Senior outfielder Tony Gennusa of Texas Lutheran University received the remaining first-place vote.