Wednesday, June 3, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore.  –   A spectacular senior season in which he led his team to its first-ever Great Northwest Athletic Conference baseball title has earned Montana State University Billings second baseman Brody Miller 2014-15 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Male Athlete of the Year honors.

Miller is the first MSUB male player to win the prestigious award and just the second baseball player in the 14-year history of the conference to receive the top honor.

He joins Seattle Mariner draftee Grady Wood of Western Oregon, who was the 2011-12 honoree, as the only baseball players to be selected.

The selections are made by the conference’s athletic directors.

“This is the cherry on top of the sundae in regards to Brody’s career in our program," MSUB coach Rob Bishop said.  "I couldn’t be more proud of what he has accomplished in a Yellowjacket uniform.  

"His contribution to our program cannot be measured on the field and I suspect that he will remain at the top of the GNAC record book for the foreseeable future.   Brody deserves the recognition for his accomplishments and the GNAC has done well to honor him in this way.”

Miller, a four-year starter from Sentinel High School in Missoula, Mont., batted .355 this past spring in leading the Yellowjackets to a 27-23 record, including a 22-10 record in conference play.

He led the conference in home runs (14), RBI (59) and total bases (132) and finished second in doubles (20), runs scored (47) and slugging percentage (.670).

That all added up to his second consecutive GNAC Player of the Year award and a pair of All-American selections.

In all he has won three third team All-American awards twice being selected by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (2014 and 2015) and once by Daktronics (2015), which is chosen by the nation’s sports information directors.

He’s just the second player in GNAC history to win the Player of the Year award twice and the third to receive two All-American selections.

His career numbers are equally impressive as he finished in the Top 10 in virtually every major statistical category, including first in walks (110) and second in games started (190).

He also finished third in runs (139), hits (249), total bases (375) and official at bats (718) and fourth in home runs (25), runs batted in (158) and sacrifice flies (13).

Miller, who set program records for multi-RBI (43) and multi-hit games (98), earned a great deal of respect around the GNAC drawing a GNAC-record 13 intentional walks this season, four more than anyone else in conference history.

GNAC Athletes of the Year

Years        Male                                                                                    
2001-02     Mike Hinshaw, Western Oregon (Football and Track & Field)        
2002-03     Fred Hooks, Humboldt State (Basketball)                                    
2003-04     Austin Nichols, Humboldt State (Basketball)                                
2004-05     Chris Randolph, Seattle Pacific (Track & Field)                           
                 Bobby McAlister, Seattle (Soccer)
2005-06     Chris Randolph, Seattle Pacific (Track & Field)                           
                 Grant Dykstra, Western Washington (Basketball)
2006-07     Dustin Bremerman, Seattle Pacific (Basketball)                            
2007-08     David Registe, Alaska Anchorage (Track & Field)                              
2008-09     Mike Reilly, Central Washington (Football)                                 
2009-10     Johnny Spevak, Central Washington (Football)                           
2010-11     Ryan Brown, Western Washington (Track & Field)                      
2011-12     Grady Wood, Western Oregon (Baseball)                                   
2012-13     John Allen, Western Washington (Basketball)
                 Micah Chelimo, Alaska Anchorage (Track & Field)
2013-14     David Downs, Seattle Pacific (Basketball)
2014-15     Brody Miller, Montana State Billings (Baseball)