KINGSVILLE, Texas (Baseball) – History repeated itself for the second consecutive season as Texas A&M University-Kingsville head baseball coach
Jason Gonzales was named the Co-Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year at the annual LSC Baseball Banquet, hosted at the King Ranch Museum at Henrietta Memorial Center in Kingsville.
After leading the team to its second consecutive and sixth overall LSC crown, Gonzales and the Hogs enter tomorrow's LSC Championship as the top seed and arguably the favorite with a 370-205-1 all-time mark at Nolan Ryan Field. Appearing on the All-LSC First Team were pitchers
Ryan Benitez,
Matt Terrones and
Ryan Scott and the heart of the Javelina order, third baseman
Cline Andrews and catcher
Clint Wallace. On the second team was center fielder
Brayton Carlson and utility man
Hayden Vesely received an honorable mention selection.
"I am extremely proud of our team for the adversity they had to overcome throughout the season to get back to the mountaintop," said Gonzales. "It is extremely tough to repeat as champions, especially while having to wear a bulls eye on your back all season. We put very little stock in personal achievement or awards, but I am very proud of our players for being recognized as All-LSC selections. It is very rewarding to see months of hard work being recognized for our team."
Benitez (7-4) picked up his seventh win of the season last week versus the Texans and has two complete games on the season. In fact, the senior right-hander has gone 6.0 or more innings nine times this season. Benitez was crowned LSC Pitcher of the Week once this season following a 12 strikeout performance in 8.1 innings in a win over Eastern New Mexico. A four-year member of the squad, he has 81 punch outs in 79.0 innings and did not allow a run in 14.0 innings. In four starts spanning 29.1 innings versus LSC opponents, he struck out 37 hitters and allowed just three earned runs.
Leading the club with eight wins is the southpaw
Matt Terrones (8-1), who has tossed two shutouts in his first season in a Javelina uniform. With back-to-back quality starts versus No. 25 WT and Cameron, respectively, he struck out 12 in 13 innings and versus No. 6 Angelo State, he tossed his second shutout of the season, allowing just four hits in the win over the nationally-ranked Rams.
Scott (4-3) has been both sensational out of the 'pen and as a starter, boasting a 2.29 ERA and limiting opponents to a .165 batting average. He has struck out 54 hitters in 51.0 innings and has gone 8.0 innings in two of his four starts. He also leads the team with seven saves despite moving into the rotation. The senior was named LSC and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) South Central Region Pitcher of the Week after punching out 12 hitters in 12.0 scoreless innings en route to a streak of 26.2 consecutive scoreless innings.
Two-time LSC Hitter of the Week
Cline Andrews leads the Javelinas in batting average (.349), RBI (36), triples (five) and
Brayton Carlson (.328, 10 stolen bases) and
Clint Wallace (.323 and 29 RBI) are over the .300 clip. Andrews has registered 17 multi-hit games (five with three or more hits) and nine multi-RBI games in his senior campaign. Earlier this season, he reached base safely in 16 consecutive contests.
One of three captains this season, Wallace has 15 multi-hit games this season and carries a five-game hit streak into the LSC tournament. In that span, he has gone 9-of-21 with four RBI and four doubles. Defensively, he has gunned down nine baserunners and picked off three.
Carlson is on a torrid streak heading into the postseason after finishing the regular season 3-for-3 with two RBI in the win over Tarleton to clinch the regular season for the Hogs. Leading the club in stolen bases with 10 (second in the LSC) he has recorded 11 multi-hit games and four three-hit contests and his first of two home runs came in an upset win over 10
th-ranked Southern Arkansas on Feb. 7.
Hayden Vesely leads the conference in base on balls (35) and boasts the team's highest on-base percentage (.430). The utility man has played first base, second base, short stop, left field and right field this season. He is batting .286 with 31 RBI and eight stolen bases.
The Lone Star Conference Championship begins at 11 a.m. tomorrow. The top seeded Javelinas take on No. 4 Tarleton State at 3 p.m. Live stats will be available for all games. For full coverage of Javelina baseball, please follow @TAMUKBaseball14 on Twitter and @JavelinaAthletics on Instagram, like the Javelina Nation page on Facebook and subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel.
2015 LSC BASEBALL ALL-ACADEMIC AWARDS| Player | Team | Yr. | Pos. | Major | Hometown |
| David Goggin | Angelo State | Jr. | OF | Chemistry | Red Wing, Minn. |
| Justin Hargrove | West Texas A&M | Sr. | C | Sports and Exercise Science | Fallbrook, Calif. |
| Blake Bass | Angelo State | Sr. | RHP | Exercise Science | Lubbock, Texas |
| Dalton Weeks | Tarleton State | So. | OF | Prof. and Rel. Communications | Riverside, Calif. |
| Paul Lujan | West Texas A&M | Sr. | RHP | English Education | Thornton, Colo. |
| Cody Pope | Eastern New Mexico | Sr. | RHP | Criminal Justice | Kingman, Ariz. |
| Sean Gahan | Eastern New Mexico | Sr. | INF | Electronic Engineer | Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Eythan Lenz | Tarleton State | Sr. | RHP | Business Administration | Hutto, Texas |
| Dillon Becker | Angelo State | Jr. | RHP | Management | Bastrop, Texas |
LSC Baseball Academic Player of the Year: David Goggin, Angelo State
2015 LSC BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS| FIRST TEAM | | | | |
| Player | Team | Yr. | Pos. | Hometown |
| Steve Naemark | Angelo State | Jr. | LHP | Tucson, Ariz. |
| Tyler Gibson | West Texas A&M | Sr. | SP | Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Blake Bass | Angelo State | Sr. | RHP | Lubbock, Texas |
| Ryan Benitez | Texas A&M-Kingsville | Sr. | RHP | New Braunfels, Texas |
| Matt Terrones | Texas A&M-Kingsville | Sr. | LHP | Mesquite, Texas |
| Graylon Brown | Angelo State | Jr. | RHP | Brownwood Texas |
| Paul Lujan | West Texas A&M | Sr. | RHP | Thornton, Colo. |
| Ryan Scott | Texas A&M-Kingsville | Sr. | RHP | Sanger, Texas |
| Jonathan Schmitz | Tarleton State | Jr. | C | College Station, Texas |
| Clint Wallace | Texas A&M-Kingsville | Sr. | C | Corpus Christi, Texas |
| Blake Cooper | Eastern New Mexico | Sr. | 1B | Long Beach, Calif. |
| Trace Hansen | West Texas A&M | Jr. | 2B | Avon, Utah |
| Paxton DeLaGarza | Angelo State | Jr. | SS | Lubbock Texas |
| Cline Andrews | Texas A&M-Kingsville | Sr. | 3B | Houston, Texas |
| Nehwon Norkeh | Angelo State | So. | OF | Minneapolis, Minn. |
| Josh Day | West Texas A&M | Jr. | OF | Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Justin Paul | Eastern New Mexico | Jr. | OF | Papillion, Neb. |
| Ryan March | West Texas A&M | Sr. | OF | Oak Lawn, Ill. |
| Derek Tyner | Angelo State | Sr. | DH | Boerne, Texas |
| J.C. Snyder | Angelo State | Sr. | UT | Salem, Utah |
| | | | | |
| SECOND TEAM | | | | |
| Bryce Zak | Angelo State | Jr. | SP | San Angelo Texas |
| Brooks Trujillo | West Texas A&M | Jr. | SP | Parker, Colo. |
| Dirk Masters | Cameron | Jr. | SP | Angleton, Texas |
| Cody Pope | Eastern New Mexico | Sr. | SP | Kingman, Ariz. |
| Colton Burleson | Tarleton State | Sr. | SP | Jasper, Texas |
| Kyle Tinius | West Texas A&M | Jr. | RP | Broomfield, Colo. |
| Dillon Becker | Angelo State | Jr. | RP | Basstrop Texas |
| Cameron Massengill | Angelo State | Sr. | C | Kennadale Texas |
| Justin Hargrove | West Texas A&M | Sr. | C | Fallbrook, Calif. |
| Aaron Blair | West Texas A&M | Sr. | 1B | Queen Creek, Ariz. |
| Jonathan Reyes | Cameron | Jr. | 2B | Juncos, Puerto Rico |
| Tyler McKinzie | Cameron | Jr. | SS | Broken Arrow, Okla. |
| Evan Robinson | Tarleton State | Sr. | SS | Flower Mound, Texas |
| Dan Ward | Eastern New Mexico | So. | 3B | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Alec Humphreys | Tarleton State | Jr. | 3B | Midlothian, Texas |
| Kevin Meredith | Tarleton State | Sr. | OF | Manor, Texas |
| Brayton Carlson | Texas A&M-Kingsville | Jr. | OF | Cedar Rapids, Iowa |
| Chris Sanders | Eastern New Mexico | Sr. | OF | Murrieta, Calif. |
| Matt Cole | West Texas A&M | Jr. | UT | Grants Pass, Ore. |
| | | | | |
| HONORABLE MENTION | | | | |
| Brett David | Angelo State | Sr. | 1B | El Paso, Texas |
| Hayden Vesely | Texas A&M-Kingsville | Jr. | UT | Victoria, Texas |
SPECIAL AWARDSPlayer of the Year: Paxton DeLaGarza, Angelo State
Pitcher of the Year: Steve Naemark, Angelo State
Freshman of the Year: Kellen Rholl, Angelo State, Nolan Withrow, Cameron, and Zach Shank, Eastern New Mexico
Coaches of the Year: Jason Gonzales, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and Matt Vanderburg, West Texas A&M
