2017 Great Midwest All-Conference Baseball Team (PDF)


MASON, Ohio – On the eve of the opening day of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championship, the annual all-conference team was introduced with all competing teams in attendance at Prasco Laboratories.
 
A first, second and all-freshman team was determined by the league’s coaches in the voting process. Individual awards were also presented to select student-athletes for their accomplishments in the 2017 season.
 
The G-MAC Championship officially gets underway on Wednesday at 10 a.m. EDT with both Prasco Park and Legacy Field being utilized throughout the day. The bracket has been modified due to pending weather conditions and six total games are scheduled for completion.
 
Attendance at the gate and food at the complex for the duration of the tournament is free.
 
Tuesday night’s guest speaker was former Texas Rangers’ first-round draft selection Sam Marsonek, who appeared in one major league game throughout his professional career.
 
A total of 45 selections were made between all three all-conference teams with three freshmen earning overlapping honors on either the first or second team.
 
The G-MAC Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards, were presented to Malone University. The Pioneers earned the No. 2 seed in this year’s tournament with notable contributions from their individual award winners.
 
Senior outfielder and G-MAC Player of the Year Keanan Locke was second in the conference in batting average only to teammate Matt Noel and ripped 27 extra-base hits, including 18 doubles, seven home runs and two triples. He turned out to be the league leader in doubles, total bases (105) and RBI (47). His home run total was tied for second in the G-MAC with Kentucky Wesleyan’s Andrew Kirkland and Adam Brown.
 
Locke had a season-best five RBI as part of a 4-for-5 effort against Northern State. He also tripled and homered in a game against Seton Hill with three RBI. He doubled three times against Davis & Elkins towards the end of the regular season as well.
 
Junior southpaw Roscoe Blackburn, also of Malone, also headlined a talented group of aces to win G-MAC Pitcher of the Year. Blackburn carved out a single-season conference record 0.64 ERA. He had a consecutive scoreless innings streak of over 36 to begin the season.
 
Blackburn racked up a season-high 11 strikeouts against Cedarville and fanned nine in games against Alderson Broaddus and Gannon. He struck out 62 batters and issued just 18 walks while not giving up a home run. His won-loss record stood at 4-1 in 56.1 innings pitched.
 
Completing the trifecta sweep for the Pioneers was leadoff hitter and G-MAC Freshman of the Year Nate Cobb, who started all 48 possible games and had nine doubles and five triples (tied for second in the league). Cobb had 63 hits and 47 runs in his first year in the league and had 24 stolen bases. His average settled at .358 going into the conference tournament.

After leading Ohio Valley to a 27-21 overall record and the second-highest team batting average in the conference, Fighting Scots’ skipper Chad Porter was named the G-MAC Coach of the Year. Behind his leadership, OVU has six players batting well over .500, including a .389 slugger in Justin Gil, and a young pitching staff that has collected multiple pitcher of the week honors (Matthew Carey, Nicholas Shower).

First-Team Analysis

The Malone Pioneers had two of their three individual award winners (Blackburn, Locke) on the first team along with shutdown reliever Gunnar Smeyres, who gives the bullpen a shutdown option in save situations...Smeyres led the league with nine saves...Add to that elite list the regular-season batting champ Matt Noel (.415) and the Pioneers cleaned up the hardware last night...Top seed Trevecca Nazarene led everyone with five selections (Ethan Harrison, Griffin Ganick, Christian Lohr, Bryson Shelton, Jesse Peters)...Kentucky Wesleyan freshman Joseph Burke doubled up as a selection on the all-freshman team...Ohio Valley's Charles Emery was a deserving choice with his dual talent pitching and hitting; he had five winning decisions and was a .358 hitter for a 27-win OVU program...Alderson Broaddus ace Randy Dobnak is now a four-time all-conference selection in his career with first-team honors in 2017, 2016 and 2015; he was a second-team pick as a rookie in 2014...AB's slugging first baseman Marquis Collier finally earned first-team billing after being the victim of a deep positional talent pool that included last year's player of the year in 2016 (Troy Paris - KWC); Collier was also a second-team pick in 2015. 

Second-Team Analysis 

Kentucky Wesleyan had five players make the second team, including two sluggers who tied for second in the league in home runs (Andrew Kirkland, Adam Brown)...Malone's Joshua Hurford had a dominant 1.51 ERA in the starting rotation and might have been pitcher of the year if it wasn't for his teammate Blackburn...Trevecca Nazarene starting pitcher Bryan Smith will finish his career among the league's all-time leaders in several key categories, including wins...Cedarville's Markus Neff and Colton Potter put up some big-time numbers offensively and are worth keeping an eye on in the tourney...KWC's Ryan Hundley was a first-team all-conference selection as a freshman in 2016; he has made an impressive transition into the starting rotation...Teammate Alex Franzen also earned all-freshman team honors...AB's Chuck Hooker and Jordan Martin starred in the postseason in 2016 as the Battlers look to make it back-to-back with championship runs as the No. 4 seed this year.