LAKELAND, Fla. – Valdosta State baseball graduate student JP Gates was named D2CCA First Team All-South Region as a designated hitter and as a utility/pitcher, announced this week.
 
Gates, a native of Brooksville, Fla., now will move onto the national ballot for D2CAA All-America consideration.  The D2CCA All-America Team will be announced in June.
 
In his first season as a Blazer, Gates helped lead VSU to the NCAA postseason for the second-straight year, marking the first time of back-to-back appearances in the NCAA postseason since 2009 and 2010.  Gates earned Gulf South Conference First Team honors as a designated hitter, while he earned second team honors as a relief pitcher/utility.  He also earned GSC All-Tournament honors, while he was named first team NCBWA All-Region as a designated hitter and second team all-region by NCBWA as a relief pitcher.
 
This season, Gates led the team in batting average with a .393 clip on 79 of 201 from the plate, while he scored 49 runs for second on the team, playing in 50 games with 49 starts.  Gates had a team-high 18 doubles with eight home runs for second on the team and drove in 41 for second on the team.  He slugged a team-best .602 for the season, while walking 12 times and was hit by nine pitches for second on the team as he registered a .448 on base clip.  Gates had one sacrifice fly and was 7 of 10 in stolen bases.  
 
Nationally speaking, he finished fourth in the GSC in batting average (.393) for 76^th nationally, while he was second in the league in doubles (18) for 67^th nationally.  Gates was second in the league in hits (79) for 55^th nationally, while he was 42^nd nationally in hits per game at a 1.58 clip.  He finished the season with a team-high 25 multi-hit games, while he led the team with 13 multi-RBI games this season.  Gates finished the season on a seven-game hitting streak and had a team-high 12-game streak during the season.  
 
On the bump, Gates finished the season with a 3.29 ERA in 41 innings and a 5-1 record, while he appeared in 14 games with two starts.  He allowed 41 hits, 21 runs – 15 earned, walked 19 and fanned 41 as teams hit .256 against him.  Gates allowed just nine extra-base hits for the season with eight doubles and one triple in 160 at bats against him.  He had a season-high ten strikeouts against West Alabama (4/7) in six innings of relief earning his fourth win of the season at that time.