INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference announced Wednesday that Bellarmine University senior outfielder Zac Wiley has been named the GLVC Player of the Year for the 2019 baseball season, while University of Illinois Springfield senior starter Andrew Dean was selected as GLVC Pitcher of the Year. In addition, University of Southern Indiana catcher/pitcher Lucas McNew was tabbed as GLVC Freshman of the Year and Missouri S&T head coach Todd DeGraffenreid was voted by his peers as GLVC Coach of the Year. The Conference honorees were selected by the league coaches and recognized for their efforts at an awards reception preceding the 2019 GLVC Baseball Championship Tournament, which begins on Thursday in Ozark, Missouri. A total of 41 student-athletes were also recognized as All-Conference honorees, while 14 standouts were named GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award honorees with Bellarmine named as the team winner.
Wiley earned the respect of each Conference coach in the postseason voting after finishing a regular season in which he led the GLVC in home runs (14), runs batted in (60) and total bases (132), was second in doubles (19), third in runs scored (57), and fourth in batting average (.388) and hits (71). A two-time GLVC Player of the Week honoree, Wiley was also the lone unanimous selection named to the All-GLVC First Team. The Shelbyville, Kentucky product played in all 48 games this season and helped Bellarmine to a 29-19 record, including a 20-13 mark in league play, which garnered the Knights the No. 7 seed in the league’s postseason tournament. He is the fourth Bellarmine standout honored as the Conference’s top player, joining 2015 GLVC Player of the Year Austin Crutcher, Patrick Brady in 2008, and GLVC Hall of Famer and current Knights’ athletic director Scott Wiegandt in 1989.
Dean becomes the first UIS student-athlete to be recognized with a major postseason award in the sport. His accolade comes on the heels of mentor Chris Ramirez being named the GLVC Coach of the Year last season. A native of Alvin, Texas, Dean led the GLVC with a 9-0 record in the regular season and compiled the second-best earned run average at 2.75. In 72.0 innings pitched, he registered the second-most strikeouts (95) of any pitcher this season, while holding his opponents to a .217 batting average. The first-team All-GLVC selection allowed 59 hits, 22 earned runs and 20 walks in 12 starts.
McNew was selected by the coaches as the league’s top freshman after ranking third in the GLVC in walks (36), eighth in slugging percentage (.610), ninth in runs (46), 11th in doubles (14), 12th in runs batted in (44), 13th in batting average (.348) and home runs (9), and 14th in total bases (100). The Floyds Knobs, Indiana native becomes USI’s second straight and second overall GLVC Freshman of the Year as Bryce Krizan was the first Screaming Eagle to be recognized as the league’s top newcomer last season.
DeGraffenreid earns his second GLVC Coach of the Year honor after first being named the league’s top mentor in 2016. Under DeGraffenreid’s watch, the Miners finished the regular season with a 30-15 overall record, including a 22-11 mark in league play, which earned them a share of the GLVC regular season title. Missouri S&T was picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, but battled to pick up its fourth piece of league hardware after scoring GLVC West Division titles in 2011, 2012 and 2016. DeGraffenreid guided three senior Miners to All-Conference accolades this season, including a pair of pitchers in starter Dalton Erger and relief standout Stuart Martin on the All-GLVC First Team. Relief pitcher Conner Forsythe earned second-team All-GLVC honors.
The 20-man All-GLVC First and Second Teams are comprised of four infielders, two utility players, five outfielders, one designated hitter, one catcher, five starting pitchers and two relief pitchers. This year’s All-GLVC Second Team included a tie at third base.
Bellarmine and Illinois Springfield led all teams with seven All-Conference honorees, which included a league-high three first-team and four second-team selections each. Drury and Quincy also had a league-best three first-team picks.
Led by head coach Larry Owens, Bellarmine was named the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winner for baseball. The league also recognized 14 GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award honorees. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced next week.
A complete list of All-GLVC performers and major postseason award winners can be found below.
2019 GLVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Zac Wiley, Sr., OF, Bellarmine
2019 GLVC PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Andrew Dean, Sr., SP, Illinois Springfield
2019 GLVC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Lucas McNew, C/P, Southern Indiana
2019 GLVC COACH OF THE YEAR: Todd DeGraffenreid, Missouri S&T
FIRST TEAM ALL-GLVC
Chris Monroe, So., 1B, UIS
Cody Birdsong, Sr., 2B, QU
Aaron Mann, Fr., 3B, DU
Macy Holdsworth, Sr., SS, UINDY
Cody Klotz, Sr., UT, MU
Jeff Hightower, Sr., UT, QU
Nathan Mark, So., DH, RU
Chris Gambert, Sr., C, BU
ZAC WILEY, Sr., OF, BU
Matthew Higgins, So., OF, BU
Brandon Post, Sr., OF, LEWIS
Clayton Engel, Jr., OF, DU
Kyle Orloff, Sr., OF, UINDY
Andrew Dean, Sr., SP, UIS
Nick Stroud, Gr., SP, QU
Peter Hamot, Sr., SP, LEWIS
Justin Revels, Sr., SP, UIS
Dalton Erger, Sr., SP, S&T
Alex Austin, Sr., RP, DU
Stuart Martin, Sr., RP, S&T |
SECOND TEAM ALL-GLVC
Louis Niemerg, Sr., 1B, MU
Brandon Bannon, Fr., 2B, UIS
Ruban Markham, Jr., 3B, UIS*
Garrett McNally, Jr., 3B, RU*
Ryan Schefske, Jr., SS, LEWIS
Kaden Helsel, Fr., UT, DU
Tyler Murphy, Sr., UT, WJC
Deylen Miley, Jr., DH, BU
John Sechen, Sr., C, UIS
Aaron Euler, So., OF, USI
Manny Lopez, Jr., OF, USI
Alex Phillips, Sr., OF, BU
Connor Rutherford, Sr., OF, LEWIS
Zach Speaker, Sr., OF, UIS
Eddie Mathis, Sr., SP, BU
Reid Werner, Jr., SP, UINDY
Riley Martin, Jr., SP, QU
Jack Eisenbarger, Jr., SP, RU
Alex Phillips, Sr., SP, BU
Sam Stephens, So., RP, QU
Conner Forsythe, Sr., RP, S&T
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UNANIMOUS SELECTION IN ALL CAPS
*Additional member due to a tie
2019 JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD (BASEBALL)
Bellarmine
2019 JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Chris Gambert, BU
Jaydee Duhamell, DU
Zach Abfall, UIS
Jake Sprinkle, UINDY
Brandon Post, LEWIS
Camdon Mercier, MU
Andrew Aydt, MCK
Braden Mahurin, S&T
Koltyn Schilly, UMSL
Carter Naughton, QU
Jack Eisenbarger, RU
Austin Krizan, USI
Mason King, TSU
Trent Bollman, WJC