UBC's Heppner named CCC Pitcher of the Year

UBC right-hander Sean Heppner (Port Roberts, Wash.) has been named Cascade Collegiate Conference Pitcher of the Year. Photo: UBC Athletics

May 5, 2023

Official Cascade Collegiate Conference Baseball Press Release

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 2023 Cascade Collegiate Conference Baseball postseason awards were announced Thursday by the conference office.

Two individuals from the top two seeded teams take home this year's top awards. College of Idaho’s Jonah Hultberg was named the Rize Laboratory Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. University of British Columbia Sean Heppner was awarded Pitcher of the Year. Oregon Tech’s Jacob Garsez was selected as the Coach of the Year. Lewis-Clark State College was awarded the Team Sportsmanship Award.

Hultberg, a redshirt junior from Boise, Idaho, had yet again another outstanding season with the Coyotes. Heading into the postseason, he leads the conference with a .414 batting average and .502 on-base percentage. He also leads in hits (75), runs scored (62), and triples (6). Defensively, as a utility player, he boasts a .932 fielding percentage. Since his sophomore year, he has been awarded All-Conference honors academically and athletically. Hultberg is a dominant, all-around well-deserving repeat recipient.

Heppner, a sophomore from Point Roberts, Wash., led the T-Birds to clinch a co-regular-season CCC title. He holds a 3.46 ERA (third in the CCC) and is a force from the circle with 6 wins for a total of 75 1/3 innings under her belt (first in the CCC). Heppner has struck out 82 batters (first in the CCC), holding opponents to a .227 batting average (second in the CCC). This season, he won Rize Laboratory CCC Pitcher of the Week twice and was named to the CCC All-Conference team.

In his third year as the head of the Owls, Jacob Garsez led Oregon Tech to win the co-regular-season conference championship for the first time since 1982. He holds a career record of 53-50 with the Hustlin' Owls and is looking to lead them to their first tournament title.

LC State saw seven, UBC had four, and OIT grabbed three All-Conference team selections. C of I got two while Corban University saw one representative on the All-Conference team.

A complete list of this year’s All-Conference Teams and Gold Glove honorees (awarded to the top defensive players at each position) as voted on by the CCC baseball head coaches can be found here.