All-NAC Baseball awards announced
WAUKESHA, Wis. -- Concordia Chicago's Nick Skala was named the 2011 Northern Athletics Conference Position Player of the Year while Aurora's Drew Gay and Concordia Wisconsin's Derrick Pankow were named Co-Pitchers of the Year to headline the All-NAC baseball awards for the 2011 season, the conference office announced.
In addition Concordia Chicago's Brenden Schulz was named Freshman of the Year and his first-year head coach Adam Smith was named Coach of the Year.
As well as the four major awards, the All-NAC team was announced along with honorable mention selections and the 10-member All-Freshman Team. The All-Sportsmanship Team included one member from each school and was chosen based on the principles of sportsmanship as promoted by the NAC and NCAA.
Skala, a junior catcher, leads the NAC in home runs (10), RBIs (63) and is currently second in slugging percentage (.678), runs scored (47) and second in hits (69) while posting the NAC's sixth-best batter average at .390.
Gay, a sophomore right-hander, is currently tied for a league-best seven wins and will look to jump into first with a win as the Spartans (30-12, 18-4 NAC) compete at NCAA Whitewater Regional this week. He has a 2.82 ERA and a 7-2 record in 11 starts with a 56-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Pankow has a conference-leading 83 strikeouts for the Falcons (18-23, 14-8 NAC) in 10 starts. The senior right-hander posted a 4.02 ERA for a 6-4 record and walked just 15 batters.
Schulz, who was also an honorable mention and All-Freshman team selection, posted a .377 average and a .504 on-base percentage. He had 42 runs, 40 hits and 18 RBIs with the bat, and had a 2.83 ERA and 7-1 record in nine starts from the mound.
CUC's Smith led the Cougars to the NAC title in his first season as head coach. The Cougars were 35-10 overall (20-2 NAC) and are currently ranked No. 23 in the most recent D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll.
The awards were voted on by the league's head coaches.
