Tuesday, May 9, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. – With a conference-best 14 home runs, Northwest Nazarene’s Billy King is the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year, leading selections to the 2017 GNAC Baseball All-Conference Team.

A transfer from Oregon State, King has posted a 1.102 OPS in his senior season to lead Northwest Nazarene back to the GNAC Championships after winning the tournament last year. King has been walked a conference-leading 39 times, but when opposing pitchers aren’t pitching around him, NNU’s outfielder has collected 106 total bases.

Mackenzie Gaul from Central Washington is the GNAC Pitcher of the Year thanks to a strong first half of the season that included three complete-game shutouts in four starts. The left-handed pitcher tallied six wins with a 3.06 ERA and a GNAC-best 68 strikeouts in 70.2 innings of work.

Western Oregon head coach Kellen Walker is the GNAC Coach of the Year. In his fourth year at the helm of the WOU baseball program, Walker led the Wolves to the 14th GNAC regular season title in program history and the first since 2014. The Wolves went on a conference-best eight game winning streak in the middle of the season and was in first place for every day of the conference season despite not playing on their home field until the final weekend of the season.

The GNAC Freshman of the Year is Connor McCord from Western Oregon, who is also an All-GNAC Honorable Mention. As a utility player, McCord started 23 games and tallied a .318 batting average. He embodied the WOU offensive style, reaching base in better than 40 percent of his plate appearances with only four strikeouts all year. On the mound, he made 10 appearances with a 2-2 record and 4.40 ERA in 43 innings of work.

Western Oregon claimed another special award with junior transfer Nyles Nygaard being named the GNAC Newcomer of the Year and is a unanimous Second Team All-GNAC selection. Nygaard is a transfer from University of Washington and, in his first year in a Wolves uniform, led the team in batting average at .327. He is tied for the conference lead in triples with four and drove in a team-high 33 runs.

Central Washington was the most well-represented program on the First Team All-GNAC, receiving seven selections. Gaul is joined by the GNAC leader in wins, Jake Levin, who was selected both as a pitcher and first baseman; the GNAC leader in batting average, Dylan Freyre; and the GNAC-leader in doubles, Conor Plaisance. The Wildcats are also represented on the first team by Chris Dalto and Kyle Stahl.

Northwest Nazarene had four players on the first team. King is accompanied by pitchers Jaramy Jacobs and Brady Baker. Junior outfielder Casey Sheehan was also a first-team selection after recording a team-best .333 batting average with 10 doubles and seven home runs.

Western Oregon has three players on the first team, including Brady Miller, who earned his third all-conference recognition in as many years. Jay Leverett earned a first-team selection with a team-best .492 slugging percentage, hitting 12 doubles and four home runs. Justin Wakem has a .367 batting average in 27 starts and a .434 on-base percentage for first-team recognition.

Montana State Billings’ duo of senior outfielders round out the First Team All-GNAC. Casey Merritt had a big comeback after missing 2016, batting .350 with four triples and 15 stolen bases. Zach Robinson stole four bases in one game to tie the GNAC single game record and claimed an MSUB program record with 51 runs. Robinson also has a .432 on-base percentage and 20 extra-base hits.

Saint Martin’s had two players named to the Second Team All-GNAC in sophomore pitcher Aaron Shoup and junior outfielder Steven Sordahl. Concordia was represented by a pair of sophomore honorable mentions for Mitch Bevacqua and Eddie Vasquez.

2017 GNAC BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM