By Matt Betts

Canadian Baseball Network

This weeks Big Man on Campus features a lot of excitement as more All-Conference selections were announced. Division 1 schools have only a few weeks left in the regular season as teams battle for postseason positioning. Some Canadians already helped their teams win conference championships and are off to regionals. Now lets get everyone caught up on the last week in college baseball.

Honors
Webb POY
UBC Thunderbirds Alex Webb (Surrey, BC) earned NAIA West Group Pitcher of the Year honor. The right-hander finished the year with a 2.22 ERA through 81 innings and posted a 9-3 record, tied for the second most wins the in the West Group. He allowed only 65 hits while tallying 95 strikeouts.

Webb was one of five UBC players to earn All-NAIA West First Team honors:

INF Bruce Yari (Waterloo, Ont.),Connor Lillis-White (Toronto, Ont.),Jeremy Newton (Toronto, Ont.), RPCurtis Taylor (Port Coquitlam, BC) and Webb.

2B Justin Orton (Essex, Ont.) and CCam Firth (London, Ont.) earned Gold Glove honors.

Wood, Comeau boasts brains, skill for Boll Weevils:
Boll Weevil: a snout beetle, that attacks bolls of cotton. Now that we have that out of the way, lets talk about some Boll Weevils, human ones.

Corey Wood (Fredricton, N.B.) had quite the season. He would post an impressive .326 average with six home runs, 33 RBIs and 32 runs scored have earned All-Great American Conference Second Team honors. Wood finished his second season as UAM’s second-leading hitter in terms of average at .326 in 37 starts. He led the Weevils in total hits, extra base hits, triples, runs batted in, total bases and slugging percentage. He also was the team’s leader in multi-hit games and multi-RBI games. He posted 14 games with at least two hits and seven games with at least two RBIs.

Evan Comeau (Halifax, N.S.) finished the year with a 3.6 GPA in the classroom in mathematics and started all 37 games for the University of Arkansas Monticello. He would bat .267 with six RBIs and 31 runs scored. He was fourth on the team in batting average, fourth in on base percentage (.442), second in runs scored (28), first in walks (31), second in stolen bases (six), third in total plate appearances (148) and first in fielding assists (108). He ranks third in the GAC in walks.

Two 12-packs for Panas
Connor Panas (Toronto, Ont.) was named MAAC Player of the Week this past week. He was on fire with 12 hits and 12 RBIs. He had multiple hits in all but one of the games he played in. He also smashed four home runs. He hit 6.32 on the week and is currently hitting .370, with nine home runs, 45 RBIs and 46 runs scored. He sits in the top 50 in all of Division 1 baseball in average (T50) hits (40th) OBP (34th) and SLG (42nd.)

Player of the Year 
Mount Aloysius Mounties junior outfielder Connor Bowie (Ancaster, Ont.) has been tabbed as the 2015 AMCC Baseball Player of the Year. Bowie finished the season ranked first in the AMCC with eight homeruns and 21 stolen bases. He also finished second with five triples and a .645 slugging percentage and sixth with 50 hits and 31 RBIs. In addition to being named an AMCC Player of the Week, Bowie was also named to the d3baseball.com national team of the week for April 28th.

Cleaning the Flashes
Brent Cleland (Toronto, Ont.) was named MAC East Division Pitcher of the Week for his outing in Game 1 of the University of Buffalo Bulls meeting with the Kent State Golden Flashes. He went six innings, allowing four hits, no earned runs while striking out a career best 12.

Davenport standouts receive honours:
Zac Wilson (New Lowell, Ont.) was named first team All-Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. Wilson hit .390 with two home runs, 29 RBIs and 44 runs scored over 52 games (44 starts.) Davenport also recently won the WHAC tournament title to bring their record to 48-9 on the year. During the tournament Wilson would collect a hit and two walks in a Game 2 win over Madonna. He would collect another hit as Davenport dumped Northwestern Ohio 3-2. After losing game to Indiana Tech, Davenport would respond in the final game by beating IT 5-4 to claim the title. Davenport would have an RBI in the final.

Zack Sardellitti (Maple, Ont.) would be an honourable mention to the all conference team. He would also have himself a solid conference tournament. In Game 1 he would go 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. After going hitless in game 2, he would bounce back by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs in a game three win over Northwestern Ohio. After chipping in with a hit in the loss to Indiana Tech, Sardellitti would draw a walk in the final.

 Prashad has reason to be proud:
Adam Prashad (Mississauga, Ont.) of Madonna University earned first team all-conference honours this week. He finished the regular season going 6-3 with a 2.66 ERA.

Collins claims honours:
Brandon Collins (Toronto, Ont.) was also named to the all-WHAC team for the University of Northwestern Ohio. He hit .376 with one home run, 62 RBIs, 33 runs scored, three stolen bases, a .443 OBP and a .524 SLG. Northwestern Ohio won the regular season championship but were eliminated by Davenport in the conference tournament.

The Ack Attack
OF Nathan Ackerman (Langley, BC) was a first-team All-NSIC selection after hitting .354 in NSIC games this season for the Wayne State Wildcats while being one of the top power hitters in the conference. In 36 league games, Ackerman tied for first in the NSIC in home runs with 12, ranked second in total bases (100), tied for second in triples with three, ranked third in slugging percentage (.769) and ninth in RBI’s with 40.

Gittleman shows smarts:
Chris Gittleman (Windsor, Ont.) makes an appearance on the BMOC for a different reason. Yes, he’s a solid contributor to the Marygrove team and also standouts in the classroom. He was named to the WHAC All-Academic team.

Tourney Play
UBC is the best of the West:
The University of British Columbia took home the NAIA West title this past week while having some big performances from their all-Canadian roster. Hold on because he comes a whole lot of Canadian content.

First off, hats off to UBC head coach Terry McKaig (Tsawwassen, BC) who led his TBirds to the West title for the fifth time in seven years.

Let’s just start with game one against Menlo. How about Lillis-White, seven innings, six hits, three runs, a walk and nine punch outs, not bad.

Another starter shall we? This time it was Webb with a Game 2 gem. He would toss seven innings, scattering four hits, three runs, he would walk four and strikeout six.

The third game against Concordia would be their only loss but it sure wasn’t Newton’s fault. He would pitch eight solid innings, giving up eight hits, three runs, would walk one and strikeout five.

It would be a team effort in the final game against Concordia, starting with starter Tyler Gillies (London, Ont.) who threw 4 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits, no runs, a walk and three strikeouts.

Okay, take a deep breath because the next Thunderbird was a little busy. Taylor threw in three of his teams four games. So lets go  [curtis taylor] back to Menlo. He would go two innings, allowing a hit, no runs, no walks and striking out one. He would get the save in Game 2 going another two innings, giving up just one hit, no runs, no walks and no strikeouts. After getting the day off in Game 3, the only loss for UBC. Taylor was back at it, going four innings, allowing just three hits, walking just one and striking out three. I think it is safe to say Taylor huge for UBC.

Yes, there was some offence too. Starting with third baseman Anthony Cusati (Burnaby, BC) who went 3-for-4 in the opener with a run and an RBI. He would then go 2-for-4 in game 2. He would then go 2-for-4 with a run in the final.

Yari collected a pair of hits and an RBI in the game 1 win over Menlo. He would then go 1-for-2 in the game 3 loss. In the championship game he would punch a pair of hits for the TBirds in the win.

Orton would collect an RBI in game 1 and a pair of hits in the final, along with a run and an RBI to help pace the TBirds.

Bryan Arthur (Abbotsford, BC) would launch a three run home runs in Game 2 to help send UBC to the championship game.

Jarod Bartnik (Surrey, BC) would collect a pinch hit in game 3 and would go 1-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. The hit was a big one as it was a two run shot in the fifth.

Kevin Biro (Deep Bay, BC), 2-for-3, Tyler Enns (Winnipeg, MB), Firth and Griff Goyer (Burnaby, BC) would also collect hits in the final.

All-tourney Tamane
Grant Tamane (Pickering, Ont.) led his Rio Grande Red Storm to the NAIA World Series by winning the KIAC tournament championship. He was named a first team all-star in the conference tournament over the last week. He also collected the gold glove award.

Big D as in Defence
Bryce Dimitroff (Burlington, Ont.) was selected the Region 2 conference gold glove winner at short stop as well as All-Conference for Connors State Cowboys.

Best of the Newbies
Darren Honeysett (Port Coquitlam, BC), a transfer from Monterey Peninsula College, earned GNAC Newcomer of the Year by hitting .350 including seven homeruns and 36 RBIs. The junior had 19 multi-hit games nine of which he collected three or more hits. He was also a rock defensively in right field, committing just two errors from his position.

Oh how sweep it is:
After taking all three games from the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers the weekend before, the University of West Alabama Tigers left little doubt who the top team in the Gulf South Conference was heading into this past weekend conference tournament. The host Tigers swept their way to the title by winning four straight game. Mitch Holgate (Windsor, Ont.) would make his presence felt in the opening game of the tournament against Delta State Statesman (remember this name.) He would go 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI. His two hits? A double and a home run. After being relatively quiet against West Florida in Game 2, Holgate would get back on the base paths in Game 3. Facing the University of West Georgia with a chance to advance to the championship final with a win, Holgate would walk and come around to score. After that win it was off to the finals, squaring off against the Delta State. Holgate would contribute with an RBI in an 8-4 UWA win. West Alabama last won the GSC title in 2005. They now have to wait and see if they will host the south regional, the selection show goes Sunday.

All Hann’s on deck:
Kyle Hann (Oakville, Ont.) would help lead his St. John’s River State College Vikings to their third straight Mid-Florida [kyle hann] Conference championship. Hann would chop a bases loaded single up the middle to score a run to make it a 6-6 ball game in the deciding contest with Seminole Community College. Hann would then score another run when the Seminole pitcher picked off to an uncovered first base, plating two runs and allowing Hann to advance to third. He would then come home on a wild pitch. St. John’s River State College now opens up state tournament action at Joker Marchant Stadium against Suncoast Conference runner up State College of Florida on May 8.

Pair lead Muleriders to Conference championship:
Byron Reichstein (St. Thomas, Ont.) would reach base twice in the opener of the Great American Conference tournament with a hit, a walk, a run and an RBI en route to a 10-3 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In Game 2 against Harding things got a little dicey at SAU dropped the contest 8-5, putting their three year GAC championship run on the line. Reichstein would go 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. After another hit, a pair of walks and a run scored to keep the Muleriders hopes alive it came down to two games with Henderson State. In the first game, Reichstein would score a run in the 6-2 victory, resulting in a one game showtown for the GAC title. In the final game, he would go 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs to help SAU claim their fourth straight GAC championship. Reichstein was named to the All-Tournament team.

Germaine on his game in GAC tournament:
Reichstein was not the only Southern Arkansas Mulerider to have a solid showing in the GAC tournament. Billy Germaine  [billy Germaine_Billy] (Aldergrove, BC) would go 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI in the opener, before walking and driving in a run in their only loss. After doubling and driving in a run against Ouachita Baptist, he would go 3-for-5 with a run scored in the first game against Henderson State. In the clinching game, he would go 1-for-4 with a run scored. The Muleriders will now make their eighth straight regional appearance. Fun fact, Southern Arkansas was a former member of the Gulf South Conference, current conference of Windsor native Mitch Holgate.

 

Reglar season
Kellogg gets no decision:
It was another no decision for Arizona State’s Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, Ont.) over the weekend. The lefty looked like he was pitching to tomato stakes as he would throw 7 2/3 innings, scattering eight hits, four earned runs, with a walk and four strikeouts in a 5-4 loss to Cal. Kellogg currently holds a 7-1 record through 12 starts with a 3.76 ERA. He should have three starts left in the regular season, this weekend against UCLA, then Washington State and at USC to close out the season.

Foster helps Huskies try to tackle Towson:
The Northeastern Huskies took their act on the road this past weekend to Towson to take on the Tigers. Towson would come away with 2-fo-3 but not before Michael Foster (Pickering, Ont.) Foster got his weekend rolling with a pair of hits and a pair of walks to go along with a run and a pair of RBIs in a Game 1 loss. After a 4-3 game 2 loss, Foster and the Huskies looked to salvage a game in the series in Game 3. They would be successful, putting up 16 runs in a 16-6 victory. Foster would draw three walks, score three runs and record an RBI in the contest. In a midweek against Hartford, he would record a hit and another walk.

The Sooner the better:
This title unfortunately did not hold up in the Oklahoma Sooners series against in-state rival Oklahoma State. Although they would pick up a win, it would be in the last game of the series. Fortunately for Canada, Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, Man.) was still doing work for the Sooners before their win. In Game 2, a 8-1 loss, Shaw would collect a hit while taking a break from catching and slotting in at designated hitter. In the finale, a 5-3 Oklahoma win, Shaw would go 2-for-3 with a run scored. Next up for the Sooners, a trip to Manhattan, KS and a date with the Kansas State Wildcats.

Gladu gives best effort for Galveston:
Raphael Gladu (Trois, Rivieres, Que.) would get his offensive week started with a 1-for-3 game with three walks, two runs and an  [r gladu] RBI in an 18-3 route of Temple College. In the final regular season series against Laredo Community College, Gladu would go 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs in Game 2, 1-for-3 in game 3 and 3-for-4 with another pair of runs and an RBI. Galveston would win the series 3-1. Gladu finished his campaign with .351 average with three home runs, 33 RBIs, 42 runs and 14 stolen bases in 51 games. Gladu is committed to Louisiana Tech.

Thibideau rounds out season at Midland:
Chris Thibideau (Dartmouth, NS) would kickstart his week with a hit in a 6-3 loss to New Mexico Junior College. In the series finale with Clarendon he would go 2-for-4 with an RBI in the opener, 2-for-5 with a run in Game 2, 1-for-4 with two RBIs in game 3 and 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs scored and a pair of RBIs in the finale. Midland would split the series two games apiece.

Dressler wins for Wranglers:
Six scoreless innings would be all Cisco College would ask out of left handerSteven Dressler (Burlington, Ont.) in their 12-6 win over Weatherford College. He would allow three hits, walk two and strikeout eight.

Suzuki shines for Concordia:
Yuji Suzuki (Toronto, Ont.) would pick up the win in the opener of the final series of the year for Concordia-St. Paul. He would throw three innings, allowing five hits, two runs while not walking a hitter and striking out two. He improved his record to 3-4 with a 4.91 ERA.

Robson rips Tigers:
Jacob Robson (Windsor, Ont.) did his best to help his Mississippi State Bulldogs take a series against the No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers, but it was to no avail as LSU took 2-of-3. Robson however, was impressive in the weekend series. In Game 1 he would collect a hit and three walks. Game 2 would see Robson go 2-for-4 with a run scored. In the final game, an 8-7, 13 inning MSU victory, Robson went 1-for-3 with three walks and a run scored. Mississippi State now has two conference series left before the SEC tournament, both on the road at Ole Miss and then at Tennessee.

Peragine leads Seawolves offence:
In Game 1 against Hartford over the weekend, Cole Peragine (Belle Ewart, Ont.) would collect a pair of hits in six plate appearances while also gathering a couple of runs scored and an RBI. In Game 2, he would get a base knock, a run and an RBI. He would make it a hit in every game on the series in the finale on Sunday, going 1-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI. Paragon would have his best output in a midweek with NYIT. He would go 2-for-3 with three walks, and three runs scored in the 18-13 Stony Brook victory.

Black back at it:
After setting the all-time school saves record, Central Michigan Chippewas closer Tim Black (Mount Hope, Ont.) threw a  [tim black] scoreless inning allowing no hits, walks and striking out one in CMU’s 15-2 win over Northern Illinois. Next up was a visit from the Michigan Wolverines. Black would again make an appearance in the 6-5 Michigan win, throwing 2/3 of an inning again not allowing a hit or a walk and punching out one.

Bauml blasts opposition:
Cole Bauml (Muenster, Sask.) has certainly put himself on the map this season and he was back causing havoc to visiting pitchers over the weekend as he returned to the lineup after a hand injury. This time it was Jacksonville who tried to slow Muenster native. In game 1, Bauml would go 1-for-5 with a run scored. In Game 2 he would collect a hit, a walk, a run and an RBI. He would collect another hit in Game 3 with two walks and a run scored in five trips to the plate.

Oregon takes on Quantrill-less Cardinals:
Fortunately for the Oregon Ducks, Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) was not staring down their hitters over the weekend. Phil Craig-St. Louis (Gatineau, Que.) certainly wasn’t complaining as he had himself quite the weekend. In Game 1 he would go 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, a 7-3 Oregon win. After Oregon took Game 2 and the series Craig-St. Louis had another hit and RBI in their only loss of the series. He would close his week with a run scored in a 10-2 in-state thumping at the hands of the Oregon State Beavers.

Antchak, NEO takes on Eastern:
It was an in-state battle for Brad Antchak (Delta, BC) and his Northeastern Oklahoma A&M baseball team. Antchak wasted little time as he went 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI in game 1 of a road doubleheader. He would close out the road half of his season with a 1-for-5 game with a run scored in the back half of the doubleheader. Returning home for the final two games he would collect a hit and score a run in Game 1 of the double dip. He would have a day in the finale, going 3-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Louis lends helping hand:
I thought I would mix it up and go with a first name in the headline. No this is not a new player named Louis, in fact, if you haven’t heard of him you better start tuning into the BMOC more often. Louis Boyd (Vancouver, BC) and his Cochise College teammates finished up their regular season last weekend winning 2-of-3 against South Mountain Community College. The University of Arizona commit would start the series off with a 2-for-5 game with a run scored. In Game 2 he would get a hit and another run scored. He would have his best game of the series in the last game of the year. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and another run scored.

Terriers round up:
Toby Handley (Whitby, Ont.) went 3-for-6 with three runs scored in a midweek with Fairfield. In Game 1 of Stony Brook’s three game series with Hartford, Handley went 4-for-6 with a run and an RBI. Game 2 would see him go 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored. In the finale, he would walk twice, score another run and bring in an RBI. He would finish his week by going 1-for-5 versus NYIT. He would also walk, score two runs and knock in two.

Jordan Mountford (Guelph, Ont.) went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI in the series opener at Sacred Heart. He would collect another two hits, going 2-for-2 in game 1 of the Saturday doubleheader. He would also walk, cross the plate twice and knock in two RBIs. In the nightcap he would swat another pair of hits, walking once and coming into score once in the 12 inning 5-4 loss. In the last game of the series he went 3-for-7 with another pair of runs and two RBIs.

David Head (Claremont, Ont.) went 1-for-4 with a run in a Northern Kentucky midweek loss to Morehead State. He would take that into the weekend opener with Jacksonville and go 2-for-3 with a run and a walk. In game 3, he went 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.

Ontario Blue Jays round up: 
Phil Diedrick (Ajax, Ont.) went 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs in Western Kentucky’s 6-5 win over Austin Peay. He would then collect a hit against Middle Tennessee State in games 1 and 2 of their weekend series. He would then go 3-for-4 again with a run scored and two RBIs.

Joey Hawkins (Whitby, Ont.) collected a hit and an RBI in game 1 of Missouri State’s series with Wichita State, Missouri State took the game 8-3. He would collect a hit and a walk while scoring two runs in game 2, another Missouri State win. He would get another hit in game 3 as Missouri State swept the Shockers with a 3-2, 10 inning win. He would close out his week with a midweek contest with Saint Louis and a 2-for-4 performance with two runs and two RBIs

Josh by gosh
DH Josh Williams had three hits, including a double and a solo homer as he knocked in three runs for the Dodge City Conquistadors in a 14-11 win over Labette. And in the nitecap of the doubleheader, Williams doubled, homers and knocked in four runs. Williams has committed to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

BMOCs
Week 11 _ Berube, Black, Grahm, Romanin

Week 10 _ Holgate, Romanin, Bouchey, Kirwer

Week 9 _ Goodall, Dennis, Robinson, Berube

Week 8 _ Bridgen, Filipeck, Mountford, Reichstein

Week 7 _  Wilson, Marks, Dressler, Fagnan

Week 6 — Siddall, Filipek, Kellogg, Degano

Week 5 — Degano, Berube, Quantrill, Stewart

Week 4 —  Bauml, Shaw, Panas, Lillis-White.

Week 3 — Black, Dressler, Romanin, Foster 

Week 2 — Robson, Doran, Germaine, Martin, Quantrill

Week 1 — Kellogg, Baksh, Gapp, Sardellitti, Harkness

Do you know a Big Man on Campus … Maybe a grandson? A son? A nephew or a former player? Email Matt Betts (mattbetts41@gmail.com) with the info or a link for next week’s edition.

 

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