Friday, August 23, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Montana State Billings and Northwest Nazarene baseball teams recently received the 2018-19 American Baseball Coaches Association Team Academic Excellence Award.

The award is given to programs coached by ABCA members that post a GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale. This year, 315 teams from every level of college and high school baseball were recognized.

The Nighthawks finished with a cumulative team GPA of 3.26, the best GPA of all GNAC baseball teams.The Yellowjackets finished the academic year with a cumulative GPA of 3.14.

The Yellowjackets finished the 2019 season with an overall record of 33-20 (30-10 GNAC) and captured the GNAC regular season title. The team went on to win the GNAC Championships and earned a berth in the NCAA Division II West Region Baseball Championship.

Now Montana State Billings alumni, Steen Fredrickson and Matt Dillon were selected to the 2019 Google Cloud/College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Division II District 8 Academic All-District Team. Dillon would then go on to receive Third Team Google Cloud/CoSIDA Division II Academic All-America honors.

Fredrickson was a First Team All-GNAC pitcher for the Yellowjackets. He led the club’s starting rotation with a 3.96 earned run average and 92 strikeouts, and posted a 3.80 GPA as a finance major. Dillon also earned First Team All-GNAC honors as an outfielder and blasted 15 home runs during his senior campaign. He maintained a 3.72 GPA as a health administration major.

The Nighthawks finished third in conference with an overall record of 24-24 (20-17 GNAC) to earn a spot in the GNAC Championships. Five Nighthawks were selected to the Second Team All-GNAC team, and two others were selected to the Honorable Mention All-GNAC team.

Second baseman Parker Price earned second-team honors during his junior campaign after earning first-team honors in 2018. Price tallied 50 hits, 27 runs batted in and 32 runs scored in 2019.

Five of the GNAC’s six baseball teams finished with a 3.0 GPA or better.