ALL-CONFERENCE: Wyckoff, Hunter Take Top Player, Coach Honors in NWC

2009 All-Northwest Conference Baseball Teams

NEWBERG, Ore. - Headlining a list of 14 George Fox University Bruins earning 2009 All-Northwest Conference baseball honors, slugging left fielder Matt Wyckoff has been named the NWC Player of the Year while Marty Hunter has been named Co-Coach of the Year as voted on by the conference’s nine coaches.

Other Bruins who received All-NWC First Team honors were second baseman Bo Thunell, shortstop Taylor Hunter, and relief pitcher Chad Jones.  All-NWC Second Team selections were catcher Brent Trask, third baseman Pat Bailey, center fielder Kyle Kuenzi, right fielder Dan Winterstein, and starting pitchers Nick Bratney and Mark Putney.  All-NWC honorable mention went to designated hitter Todd Siler, starting pitcher Shane Dalgleish, and middle reliever Travis Schroeder.

Wyckoff, a senior from Olympia, Wash., leads the conference hits (77), total bases (126), RBIs (66), total plate appearances (201), and at bats (170) while ranking 2nd in batting (.453), runs (61), doubles (17), 3rd in home runs (10), sacrifice flies (6), stolen bases (20), 4th in slugging (.741), 5th in on base pct. (.507), and 9th in walks (21).  Nationally, he is 7th in hits, 9th in RBIs, 14th in total bases, 18th in runs, 19th in sacrifice flies, 37th in batting, and 44th in doubles. 

During the season, Wyckoff was named the NWC Hitter of the Week twice and was honorable mention for National Hitter of the Week once.   All of his home runs and 55 of his RBIs came in the Bruins’ 32 conference games.  He reeled off a 28-game hitting streak, one short of the school record, and was halted only when he went 0-for-1 with three walks in a game at Puget Sound.  He had 24 multi-hit games, including a 5-for-5 game in which he hit three home runs and drove in eight at Willamette.  He was All-NWC Second Team last year as a first baseman.

Coach Hunter, in his second year at the helm after five years as an assistant coach, directed the Bruins to a 33-9 overall record, setting a new record for the most wins in a regular season (only the 2004 team, which went 40-10 and won the national championship, won more overall after going 9-1 in the post-season).  The Bruins are ranked 16th in the D3baseball.com national poll, 22nd in the ABCA poll, and 4th in the NCAA Division III West Region.  The Bruins tied Pacific Lutheran University (whose coach, Geoff Loomis, is the other Co-Coach of the Year) for the Northwest Conference title at 27-5, then defeated PLU 24-6 in a one-game playoff to earn the NWC’s automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament.  The Bruins enter the West Regional playoffs with the nation’s highest batting average at .375. 

In two years, Hunter has led the Bruins to a 61-23 record for a .726 winning percentage and two post-season appearances.  He picked up his milestone 50th win this season when the Bruins defeated Whitman 21-2 in the second game of a doubleheader at home on April 10.

Thunell, a junior from Canyon City, Ore., leads the conference with 18 doubles while ranking 2nd in RBIs (53), 3rd in slugging (.759), total bases (104), 4th in home runs (9), 5th in batting (.431), hits (59), and 6th in on base pct. (.500), runs (42).  Nationally, he is 26th in doubles and 43rd in slugging.  As a freshman in 2006, he was First Team All-NWC and Third Team All-America at shortstop, and was Second Team All-NWC in 2007 before missing all but one game last year due to injuries.

Like Wyckoff, Thunell was especially productive in conference play, collecting all of his extra-base hits against league opponents and 43 of his RBIs.  He posted 18 multi-hit games, slugging two home runs with seven RBIs in a game at Whitworth, and tying a Bruin record with three doubles in a game while driving in six at Pacific.  He had a 4-for-4 game at Whitman with two doubles, a home run, and six RBIs.  He was named NWC Hitter of the Week once. 

Hunter, the coach’s son who is a sophomore from Canby, Ore., hit .431 over his last 15 games, boosting his batting average to .358 with six doubles, one home run and 22 RBIs.  He leads the NWC in hit by pitches (12) and fielding assists (133), and ranks 2nd in sacrifice bunts (9, 17th nationally) and 6th in runs (42).  He collected 11 multi-hit games, including 4-for-4 games at Willamette and Puget Sound.  He and Thunell form a keystone combination that has the Bruins ranked 5th nationally in double plays (46) and 8th in fielding average (.968).

Jones, a junior from McMinnville, Ore., via Chemeketa Community College, has posted a 7-1 record with 6 saves, tying the school record for saves in a season, and a 1.96 earned run average as the Bruins’ closer.  He has struck out 36 and walked only 10 in 41.1 innings in 22 appearances, all in relief.  He is only 2/3 of an inning away from enough innings to qualify for the league ERA title, which he would lead.  He is the NWC leader in saves, appearances, and games finishes (16), and is tied for 3rd in wins.  Nationally, he is 19th in saves. 

Trask, a junior from Albany, Ore., and Linn-Benton Community College, overcame an 0-for-11 start to bat .292 with one home runs and 13 RBIs while splitting backstop chores with sophomore Eric Gantenbein.  He stood out in conference play with a .375 batting average in 20 league games.  He had four multi-hit games, three of them in a row, and went 3-for-4 with a double, home run, and four RBIs vs. Whitman.  Behind the plate, he committed only three errors, had no passed balls, and threw out 31% (seven of 23) of runners trying to steal. 

Bailey, a senior from Highland, Utah, is batting .363 with nine doubles, 36 RBIs, 36 runs, and ranks 4th in the conference in home runs (9) and 10th in total bases (85) and hit by pitches (8).  He had 17 multi-hit games, including four games of three hits, and drove in a season-high four runs with a double and a home run vs. Lewis & Clark.  He was named NWC Hitter of the Week once.  He was a First Team All-NWC selection as a sophomore when he set a Bruin record for doubles in a season (22), and was honorable mention All-NWC last year.

Kuenzi, a senior from Silverton, Ore., is batting .363 with eight doubles, two home runs, 22 RBIs, and leads the conference in runs (66), triples (6), and stolen bases (22).  He is also 2nd in plate appearances (188), 3rd in walks (26), 4th in sacrifice bunts, 5th in at bats (146), and 10th in on base pct. (.475).  Nationally, he is 3rd in runs and 18th in triples.  He was a Second Team All-NWC selection last year.

This season, he set a new Bruin single-season record for runs scored, breaking the mark of 62 set by Ryan Munoz in 1999.  He had 16 multi-hit games, including a 5-for-7 game in the Bruins’ automatic qualifier playoff with PLU in which he tied the team record for most at bats in a game.  He scored four runs in a game four times, included one against Lewis & Clark in which he also drew four walks and tied the single-game record with four steals.

Winterstein, a sophomore from Eugene, Ore., ranks 2nd in the conference in hits (65), 3rd in sacrifice flies (6), at bats (155), 5th in plate appearances (184), 6th in batting (.419), 8th in total bases (89), and 9th in doubles (13).  Nationally, he ranks 19th in sacrifice flies.  He also has three home runs and 38 RBIs.  He had 18 multi-hit games this season, with four hits in a game twice.  He was a Second Team All-NWC selection last year. 

Bratney, a senior from Boise, Idaho, has a 5-3 record with 36 strikeouts and leads the conference in innings (76.1) and starts (13).  He ranks 3rd in earned run average (4.01) and 8th in wins.  He was 4-2 with a 3.18 ERA in conference play.  He pitched complete-game victories over Lewis & Clark and at Whitworth, allowing no earned runs in the L&C win.  A ground-ball pitcher, he struck out five in a game three times and had a season-high six strikeouts in a win over Whitman.  He was a First Team All-NWC selection as a sophomore and Second Team last year.

Putney, a junior from Kodiak, Alaska, sports a 4-0 record with a 3.83 earned run average, but was 4-0 with a 3.18 ERA in league play.  Due to an arm injury, he missed the early part of the season and is two innings away from qualifying for the the league ERA title.  He has fanned 29 and walked only seven in his 40 innings of work, and has two complete games, including a three-hit shutout of Linfield, against whom he has a string of 14 straight scoreless innings.   He also tossed seven innings against Whitman while allowing one unearned run with six strikeouts.  His season high is seven K’s at Whitworth.  He was a First Team All-NWC hurler last season. 

Siler, a senior from Newberg, Ore., missed several games in mid-season due to a hamstring injury but bounced back to hit .344 with two home runs and 23 RBIs, including 17 driven in during 16 conference games.  He tied for 4th in the league in triples (2).  He had seven multi-hit games, including three-hit games at Hawaii-Hilo and Pacific.  He had a six-RBI game vs. Whitman when he tripled and homered. 

Dalgleish, a senior from Sammamish, Wash., has a 7-1 overall record with a 6.57 earned run average, including a 5-1 record with a 5.66 ERA in conference play.  He has fanned 35 in 61.2 innings while making 12 appearances, all starts.  He is 2nd in the conference in starts, tied for 3rd in wins, and is 9th in innings pitched.  He struck out a career-high 10 in seven innings to earn a win at Puget Sound, and allowed only one run and four hits in seven innings for a win at Pacific.  He was honorable mention All-NWC last year.

Schroeder, a junior from Kelowna, British Columbia, has a 5-2 record with a 5.91 earned run average overall, but sparkled in conference play with a 5-0 mark and a 2.88 ERA.  He has made 11 appearances with three starts, working 35 innings with 24 strikeouts.  He struck out a career-high nine in 5.1 innings of relief against Concordia-Portland, and threw 3.1 scoreless innings vs. Linfield and three scoreless frames to pick up a win at Willamette.

Robert Bleecker of Pacific Lutheran was named the NWC Pitcher of the Year.