2021 Great Midwest Baseball All-Conference Team (PDF)
MASON, Ohio – Following the completion of the first two games of the postseason tournament bracket at PRASCO Park, coaches’ selections for the 2021 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball All-Conference Team were revealed on Wednesday afternoon.
Student-athletes from the league were named to the first, second and third teams by position, including in the field and as starting or relief pitchers. Individual award winners were also announced, including player, pitcher, freshman and coach of the year.
Three different outfielders were on each while four starting pitchers were voted to each team and two relievers also comprised the list. Around the horn defensively, (1) player from each position was designated among the top vote getters.
The Great Midwest Player of the Year for the second time in his career was Walsh first baseman Andrew Czech. Czech helped the Cavaliers to the second seed in the conference tournament while leading or ranking at the top of the league in many statistical offensive categories.
When teams are brave enough to pitch to the slugging lefty, the redshirt senior tends to make them pay. Czech was tops in the league in home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, walks drawn and runs scored.
After having the majority of the 2020 spring season taken away due to COVID, the Great Midwest Freshman of the Year went to infielder David Silva of Ohio Dominican. After ODU’s first game in the conference tournament, he had 52 hits, top 10 in the league, while batting .374 and stealing 16 bases.
Several positions the coaches had to weigh were absolutely loaded, including second base, where Ohio Dominican’s David Silva, Tiffin’s Griffin Stevens and Cedarville’s Peyton Eeles, a former conference freshman of the year, were vying for votes.
Stevens led the league in doubles with 19, ranked second in hits with 58 and was third in the conference in batting average. Eeles was also top 10 in hits and tied for third among all players with 22 stolen bases.
The league leader in batting average (.403), hits (62) and RBI (55), was Walsh outfielder Brenden Spaulding. He was joined on the first team in the outfield by Kentucky Wesleyan’s Cody Bridges and Trevecca Nazarene’s Braden Odom.
The same went for first base where the slugging Czech paced his fellow corner infielders Jeff Landis of Hillsdale and Joseph Burke from Kentucky Wesleyan. All three were top threats to launch one out of the park and produced big time RBI numbers for their respective programs.
The top arms in the league were headlined by Malone’s left handed starter Clay Cooper, who was tabbed Great Midwest Pitcher of the Year. The Pioneers have had a strong tradition with the top honors among starters, including back-to-back selections for former standout LHP Roscoe Blackburn.
Cooper was the conference leader in ERA (2.45) while striking out 70 batters in 55 innings pitched. Other talented starting pitchers voted to the first team included 2019 conference pitcher of the year Devin Smith from Kentucky Wesleyan, Lake Erie’s Tyler Bryant who held batters to a Great Midwest best .169 batting average and Walsh lefty Brant Alazaus, who earned six wins on the mound.
Great Midwest Coach of the Year honors went to Trevecca Nazarene's Chase Sain as he guided the Trojans to the top seed and a regular season conference title in his first year with the program. TNU had the best ERA of all pitching staffs in the conference at 4.17 and entered this week's postseason with a 28-10 overall record. The Trojans secured their regular season conference crown with a series sweep prior to the championship tournament.