Friday, January 23, 2015

POMONA, Calif. – Ten baseball players, including last season’s GNAC Player and Pitcher of the Year, have been named to one of the two 2015 NCAA Division II National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-West Region teams Friday.

Montana State Billings second baseman Brody Miller, the 2014 GNAC Player of the Year, was named to the first-team as was last season’s Pitcher of the Year, Central Washington’s Brandon Williams.

Miller was an All-American last season, the school’s first, after hitting .392 with 34 RBI’s and six home runs for the Yellowjackets. Williams led the GNAC in ERA (1.81) and strikeouts (89) in 2014 while recording six complete games for the GNAC tournament champions.

Also being named to the team were three first-team GNAC selections in CWU’s Kasey Bielec, MSUB’s Luke Reinschmidt and Saint Martin’s Chandler Tracy.

The Wildcats third baseman led the conference in RBI’s with 39 in 2014 while the Saint’s Tracy was named the GNAC’s top catcher. The Yellowjackets Reinschmidt was third in batting average at .359 while also completing the third cycle in conference history.

The second-team was made up of two Western Oregon players, third baseman Garret Harpole and pitcher Eric Huson, along with MSUB’s Kevin Toon, SMU’s Travis Shaw and CWU’s Cory Welch.

The four position players all recorded at least 48 hits while the lone pitcher, Huson, ranked second behind Williams in ERA, earned runs and shutouts in 2014.

Also released Friday was the NCBWA West Region Preseason Poll. The only GNAC team that made the initial 2015 list was defending regular-season champion Western Oregon. The Wolves were voted eighth in the poll with 18 overall points.

The 2015 GNAC baseball season begins Feb. 1 when Western Oregon challenges UC San Diego and Saint Martin’s battles Corban. The rest of the conference teams start their season on Feb. 6 while GNAC play begins Feb. 28.

2015 NCBWA West Region Preseason Poll