Baseball Lands Nine on GNAC All-Conference Team

SPOKANE, Wash. – Montana State Billings baseball had nine players named to the 2009 All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference Baseball Team, the conference office announced.  The Yellowjackets also had three first team selections, including Cole Pryor, Nick Harris and Stefan Malkuch.  Steve Scott and Matt Schoonover were second team selections while Brian Howe, Andrew Hernandez Archie Smith and Joe Via earned honorable mention honors.

The Yellowjackets finished second in the league this season with a 16-16 record (24-28 overall) and had the second-most of first team selections with three.  Western Oregon dominated the first team with 10 of 19 selections, while MSUB had three and Central Washington, Northwest Nazarene and Saint Martin’s had two each.  WOU had the most selections total with 14, followed by MSUB with nine, Central Washington had eight, Northwest Nazarene had seven and Saint Martin’s had five.

Harris and Malkuch were unanimous first team selections at third base and outfield, respectively.  Harris finished the season fourth in average at a .335 clip.  He played in 45 games which was the second-most on the team and was second in hits with 55.  He tied for second in home runs with four and led the team in RBIs with 29 and total bases with 76.  Malkuch was second in average at .364 and was second in doubles with eight.  Malkuch was second on the team in slugging at a .529 clip. 

Pryor, who moved from shortstop to second this season, hit .313 as a senior and led the team and conference with four doubles, increasing his own school record.  He slugged .400 and reached base 43 percent of the time.  Pryor had just four errors in 154 chances this season earning first team honors.

Schoonover had another impressive year as he hit .345 which was good for third best on the team earning him second team honors. He tallied 61 hits to lead the team, had seven doubles and 27 RBI.  He recorded 71 total bases for second on the team.

Scott also was a second team selection as he had a team-best 3.76 ERA in 13 starts with a team-best 6-5 record.  He led the team with seven complete games and tallied one shutout.  Scott led the team in innings pitched with 83.2 and increased his school record strikeouts with 37 this season to 110 for his career.

Howe, Hernandez, Smith and Via all were honorable mention selections.  Behind the dish, Hernandez started and played in 37 games.  He hit .309 with 38 hits, six doubles and 18 RBI.  Hernandez was second on the team in put outs with 144 and committed just six errors in 179 chances.  He also recorded one pickoff and gunned down 13 base runners attempting to steal.  Howe went 4-6 on the year with a 4.33 ERA in 13 appearances with 12 starts and five complete games.  He was second on the team in innings pitched at 79 and led the team with 54 strikeouts.

Smith finished the season with a 4-4 record and a 4.72 ERA in his first season as a Yellowjacket.  He appeared in 13 games and started 12 with three complete games in 74.1 innings of work.  Smith finished second in strikeouts with 42 and opponents hit .279 against him.  Via led the team in home runs with six and third in RBIs with 26.  He hit .283 for the year and led the team with 10 doubles.  He slugged a team-best .547 and had an on-base percentage of .422. 

Schoonover is the only Yellowjacket to have earned all-conference honors previously as he was named all-Heartland Conference in 2007.  Jonathan Schlender, Levi Johnson and Jeff Ridgeway were all-GNAC selections in 2008.

2009 GNAC ALL-CONFERENCE BASEBALL TEAM

FIRST TEAM: Pitchers – *Blake Keitzman, WOU (5-10, 170,, Jr., Roseburg, OR); *Jacob Pettit, WOU (6-2, 180, Jr., Orting, WA); Kirk Lind, WOU (5-10, 200, Fr., Vancouver, WA); Jon Keller, NNU (6-2, 190, Jr., Eugene, OR) .  Relief Pitcher -  Jeff Brooks, SMU (RP, 6-0, 160, Sr., Lacey, WA). Catcher –  Andrew Snowdon, CWU (6-3, 230, Sr., Bellevue, WA).  First Base – *Thomas McCarthy, WOU (6-4, 220, Fr., Corvallis, OR).  Second Base – Cole Pryor, MSUB (5-9, 170, Sr., Billings, MT); Eric Renander, WOU (6-0, 180, Sr., Forest Grove, OR). Shortstop -  J.J, Mascolo, WOU (6-3, 175, Sr., Eugene, OR).  Third Base  - *Bill Clontz, WOU (6-2, 180, Jr., Corvallis, OR); *Nick Harris, MSUB (6-1,200, Sr., Great Falls, MT).    Infielder – *Jon Keller, NNU (6-2, 190, Jr., Eugene, OR).  Designated Hitter  - Jason Moseby, WOU (6-3, 190, Jr., Bellevue, WA).  Outfielders – *Travis Fox, WOU (5-10, 180, Sr., Colville, WA); *A.J. Gosney, CWU (5-10, 190, Sr., Spokane, WA); *+Shane Schoeneberg, SMU (6-0, 205, Sr., Kennewick, WA); *Stefan Malkuch, MSUB (6-1, 175, Sr., Kalispell, MT); Justin Speer, WOU (5-9, 200, Sr., Gresham, OR). *Unanimous  +Repeater 

SECOND TEAM: Pitchers - Mike Eisenhauer, WOU (6-0, 180, Sr., West Linn, OR); Steve Scott, MSUB (6-4, 210, Sr., Billings, MT) , Andrew Snowdon, CWU (6-3, 230, Sr., Bellevue, WA).  Relief Pitcher – Jesse Nunley, WOU (5-9, 170, Jr., Tacoma, WA). Catcher – Garrett Breda, WOU (5-9, 170, Jr., Bothell, WA); Connor Rankin, NNU (6-3, 200, Jr., Shoreline, WA).   First Base – Kevin Schneider, CWU (5-11, 190, Jr., Spokane, WA).  Second Base – Jordan Slesk, CWU (6-0, 180, Jr., Bellingham).  Shortstop – Matt Schoonover, MSUB (5-11, 185, Jr., Great Falls, MT).  Third Base – Joel Oliver, Northwest Nazarene (5-11, 225, Jr., Menifee, CA).  Designated Hitter – Jimmy VanBeek, NNU (6-1, 240, Sr., Yakima, WA).  Outfielders – Ricky McKinney, CWU (6-1, 200, Jr., Aberdeen, WA); Ty Windall, NNU (5-11, 165, So., Davis, CA); Kyle Boe, WOU (6-1, 210, Jr., Burlington, WA).